Decision-making capacity and communication about care of older people during their last three months of life

BMC Palliative Care

Table 1 Patient and care characteristics and decision-making capacity (LASA-sample, n=165, rounded percentages)*

	Full DMC	Limited DMC before death
	Full DMC	total	more than a week before death	a week or less before death
	n=39 (%)	n=126 (%)	n=56 (%)	n=70 (%)
Reason of incompetence ^†	n.a
Unconscious/coma^‡		32	8	52
Dazed		32	23	40
Demented^‡		27	59	0
Confused		19	26	12
Symptom burden		4	4	6
Not able/willing to think of end of life		4	4	5
Communication difficult		1	2	0
Stroke		1	2	0
Other		3	6	2
Age
<70	15	14	7	19
70-85	51	43	43	43
>85	33	44	50	39
Male	59	47	43	50
Cause of death ^{‡ ¶}
Cancer	16	25	13	28
Old age	11	23	36	13
Heart disease	32	12	13	12
Stroke	11	10	2	16
Lung disease (asthma/CARA/COPD)	8	10	4	15
Dementia	0	10	21	0
Other	22	11	13	10
Advance Directive (AD)	17	17	15	19
Type of AD ^†
Advance euthanasia directive	6	8	11	6
Do-not-resuscitate order	6	6	2	8
Appointed proxy	3	1	2	0
Refusal of treatment document	3	3	2	3
Will-to-live statement	3	2	0	3
Type of care during the last 3 months of life
District nurse	39	45	39	49
Informal home care	53	36	27	43
Formal home care	36	34	25	42
Nursing home care ^¶	3	29	7	15
Volunteer help	10	9	13	6
Main attending physician in last three months ^{‡ ¶}
General practitioner	86	59	45	70
Specialist elderly care	3	29	7	17
Medical specialist	11	13	48	13
Hospitalization in last month of life ^‡	37	36	22	49
Place of death ^{‡ ¶}
Hospital	28	28	13	41
Own home	45	26	23	28
Nursing home	8	27	52	6
Residential home	17	15	11	22
Hospice	3	3	2	3

^*Missing observations were less than 5% of the total n, except for the group ‘full DMC until death’, between 1 and 9 missing observations.
^†More than one answer could be given.
^‡Difference between the groups ‘limited DMC more than a week before death’ and ‘limited DMC a week or less before death’ significant (p<0.05).
^¶Difference between groups ‘full DMC until death’ and ‘limited DMC before death significant’ significant (p<0.05).

ISSN: 1472-684X