Table 4 Prevalence of medical end-of-life practices, Switzerland 2013, by language region and place of death
From: Medical end-of-life practices in Swiss cultural regions: a death certificate study
Regions | German-speaking | French-speaking | Italian-speaking | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of non-sudden expected deaths (eligible for end-of-life decision) | N = 2256 | N = 992 | N = 430 | |||
%a | 95% CI | %a | 95% CI | %a | 95% CI | |
At home | N = 265 | N = 96 | N = 67 | |||
11.6% | (10.4–13) | 9.5% | (7.9–11.5) | 15.6% | (12.4–19.3) | |
No end-of-life practice | 25.8 | (20.9–31.4) | 24.6 | (17.0–34.2) | 31.1 | (21.1–43.2) |
Forgoing treatment total | 60.3 | (54.2–66.0) | 47.0 | (37.2–57.1) | 45.8 | (34.2–57.8) |
Alleviation of pain & symptoms total | 53.1 | (47.1–59.1) | 60.2 | (50.0–69.6) | 63.1 | (51.0–73.8) |
vPhysician-assisted death total | 5.7 | (3.5–9.2) | 15.4 | (9.3–24.4) | 1.6 | (0.2–10.5) |
- Assisted suicide | 4.2 | (2.3–7.5) | 9.0 | (4.6–17.0) | – | |
In long-term care homes | N = 982 | N = 371 | N = 186 | |||
44.3% | (42.3–46.4) | 38.6% | (35.6–41.7) | 43.1% | (38.5–47.8) | |
No end-of-life practice | 17.6 | (15.3–20.1) | 23.9 | (19.8–28.5) | 27.1 | (21.2–34.0) |
Forgoing treatment total | 71.5 | (68.6–74.3) | 59.1 | (53.9–64.0) | 54.8 | (47.6–61.8) |
Alleviation of pain and symptoms total | 62.7 | (59.6–65.7) | 63.2 | (58.2–68.0) | 63.1 | (55.9–69.8) |
Physician-assisted death total | 1.2 | (0.7–2.2) | 3.0 | (1.7–5.4) | 3.1 | (1.4–6.8) |
- Assisted suicide | 0.1 | (0.0–0.8) | 0.3 | (0.0–2.0) | – | |
In hospital | N = 973 | N = 522 | N = 174 | |||
42.5% | (40.5–44.6) | 51.5% | (48.4–54.7) | 40.6% | (36.1–45.4) | |
No end-of-life practice | 15.7 | (13.5–18.1) | 26.0 | (22.4–30.0) | 22.7 | (17.0–29.5) |
Forgoing treatment total | 73.6 | (70.4–75.9) | 62.6 | (58.4–66.7) | 64.5 | (57.1–71.3) |
Alleviation of pain and symptoms total | 68.8 | (65.8–71.6) | 60.2 | (55.9–64.4) | 65.9 | (58.6–72.6) |
Physician-assisted death total | 2.0 | (1.3–3.1) | 1.7 | (0.9–3.2) | 0.5 | (0.1–3.8) |
- Assisted suicide | – | 0.4 | (0.1–1.4) | – | ||