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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Dying With Dementia

subject

description

Advanced dementia is increasingly being regarded as a terminal disease (1, 2). Studies in English-speaking countries have led to the conclusion that the palliative care of patients with dementia at the end of their lives is now inadequately adapted to their special needs, not only for those dying at home, but also for those dying in hospitals and nursing homes (3, 4). Insufficient symptom control, failure to recognize that the patient is dying, and unnecessary and stressful interventions such as artificial nutrition or physical restraints are common (5, 6). Most of the pertinent studies in Germany have looked only at the symptom burden of persons dying of cancer in palliative care facilities (7, 8). In this article, we make use of data from the EPACS (Establishment of Hospice and Palliative Care Services in Germany) study (9– 12) to assemble a more complete picture of the current situation of dying persons with dementia in Germany. We devote special attention to the patients’ preferred and actual places of death, symptom prevalence, and quality of care. Data on non-dementia patients are included for comparison.