End-of-life care for persons age 80 years or older.
At age 80, about 4 of every ten 10 men and 3 of every 10 women will die within 5 years. What should the very old expect of the dying experience? National data reveal that very old adults experience considerable variation in the use of the hospital during their last 6 months of life. Physicians report these patients most often need assistance with self-care, emotional support, nutrition, and pain control. In order to minimize unnecessary and expensive hospitalization and improve home management, specific terminal care guidelines are proposed and illustrated.
Goodlin
S J
SJ
Department of Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, USA.
Fisher
E
E
Patterson
J A
JA
Wasson
J H
JH
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D017062:Small-Area Analysis; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States