Factors influencing place of death in Germany.

Abstract Context Knowledge about factors influencing the place of death may be very useful for the planning of public health strategies to improve the situation of terminally ill patients. Objectives The aim of our study was to determine where people died in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 2008. We further wanted to detect which factors had an influence on the place of death. Methods Our cross-sectional survey was based on a random sample of 5000 inhabitants of Rhineland-Palatinate who had died between May 25, 2008 and August 24, 2008. Relatives of these randomly drawn deceased persons were interviewed by means of a written survey. Results After removing duplicates, 4967…