Life worth living: cross-sectional study on the prevalence and determinants of the wish to die in elderly patients hospitalized in an internal medicine ward.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Elderly people frequently express the wish to die: this ranges from a simple wish for a natural death to a more explicit request for death. The frequency of the wish to die and its associated factors have not been assessed in acute hospitalization settings. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and determinants of the wish to die in elderly (≥65 years) patients hospitalized in an internal medicine ward.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted between 1 May, 2018, and 30 April, 2019, in an acute care internal medicine ward in a Swiss university hospital. Participants were a consecutive sample of 232 patients (44.8% women, 79.3 ± 8.1 years) with no cognitive impairment. Wish to die was assessed using the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death-

SUBMITTER: Bornet MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7491164 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature