title: Dyspnea--a bad prognosis symptom at the end of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dyspnea as refractory symptom leading to sedation at the end of life and the place of death. Survival study in population with dyspnea.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal study of terminally ill patients in a year (n = 195). We divided populations as (a) population with dyspnea: prevalent and incident dyspnea and (b) population without dyspnea. We used the statistical program Stata9 (Kaplan-Meier and Cox logistic regression models).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The probability of being sedated was 5 times higher in population with dyspnea. Dying in hospital odds ratio was 2.13 in patients with dyspnea. The average survival time was 52 days in patients with dyspnea and 69 in non-dyspnea patients. The average survival was similar between both groups. Patients with incident dyspnea showed a higher average survival than those with prevalent dyspnea.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The connection between dyspnea and sedation was clearly shown. There were significant differences between prevalent dyspnea and incident dyspnea groups.
authors.affiliation: Regional Palliative Care Program of Extremadura, Palliative Care Team of Badajoz, Badajoz, Spain. 924252539@telefonica.net
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Cuervo Pinna
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mota Vargas
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Redondo Moralo
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sánchez Correas
authors.forename: Guillem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pera Blanco
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000008:administration & dosage; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives