Table 2 Prevalence of end-of-life decisions in patients dying from cancer in 2013 in Flanders, Belgium (n = 1394)

From: End-of-life decision-making across cancer types: results from a nationwide retrospective survey among treating physicians

 

ELD made or not

Type of ELD made

 

Sudden and unexpected death,

no ELD made

Non-sudden death,

no ELD made

Non-sudden death,

at least one ELD made

Non-treatment decision

Intensified alleviation of pain or symptoms

Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicidea

Life abbreviation without explicit patient request

Cancer type

Weighted %b

Weighted %b

All cancer deaths (n = 1394)

22.6

11.3

66.1

12.1

41.7

10.4

1.8

Gastrointestinal (n = 417)

23.8

10.8

65.5

12.3

41.4

10.5

1.3

Respiratory (n = 334)

20.0

10.6

69.4

14.0

41.8

12.6

1.0

Genitourinary (n = 252)

24.2

8.8

67.1

12.2

42.8

8.7

3.4

Breast (n = 113)

21.5

17.6

60.9

7.6

41.2

10.2

1.9

Haematological (n = 106)

22.1

16.6

61.3

12.3

37.5

9.0

2.4

Otherc (n = 172)

23.8

9.7

66.5

11.0

44.0

9.7

1.8

P-valued

.868

.132

.590

.724

.947

.750

.465

  1. Percentages are row percentages
  2. ELD end-of-life decision with possible or certain life-shortening effect
  3. aFive of 211 patients were cases of physician-assisted suicide
  4. bPercentages are weighted for the disproportionate stratification and differences in the distribution of mortality characteristics between the response sample and all patient deaths
  5. c‘Other’ category includes head and neck; bone and articular cartilage; skin; eye, brain, and central nervous system; thyroid and endocrine glands; ill-defined, secondary, and unspecified sites; independent (primary) multiple sites
  6. dBivariate differences between patients with different cancer types calculated using Pearson’s χ2-tests
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