Age-based disparities in end-of-life decisions in Belgium: a population-based death certificate survey

BMC Public Health

Table 5 Granted and rejected euthanasia/assisted suicide (EAS) requests 1998 and 2007 by age groups (weighted %)

	Patient age (yrs)			p-value*
	−65	65-79	80+	biv.	multiv.
1998	n = 181	n = 408	n = 640
Request for EAS	7,6	4,6	3,9	0.097	0.326
granted	53	32	35	0.392	0.909
rejected	47	68	65
2007	n = 550	n = 972	n = 1207
Request for EAS	10,3	5,6	2,6	*<0.001*	*0.034*
granted	63	64	38	0.039	0.296
rejected	37	36	62
Reasons for granting	(n = 51)	(n = 64)	(n = 27)
no prospect of improvement	92	77	87	0.367	0.715
request/wish of the patient	89	94	100	0.736	0.465
severe symptoms (excl. pain)	81	67	71	0.612	0.803
severe pain	69	57	50	0.508	0.702
loss of dignity	50	57	43	0.751	0.675
low expected life quality	46	61	64	0.379	0.478
expected further suffering	42	57	71	0.239	0.170
life should not be prolonged needlessly	19	45	67	0.016	0.066
request/wish of the family	19	20	50	0.095	0.651
situation unbearable for family	19	16	20	0.916	0.914
Reasons for rejecting	(n = 33)	(n = 27)	(n = 25)
death before request granted	60	47	32	0.230	0.548
patient revoked request	20	12	17	0.808	0.994
no well-considered request	7	11	13	0.823	0.494
fear for legal consequences	7	18	0	0.104	>0.999
suffering was not unbearable	7	0	17	0.155	0.485
principle objections	0	0	22	0.022	0.389
medical condition not hopeless	0	0	13	0.110	0.818
institutional policy	0	0	13	0.110	>0.999
patient was not terminally ill	0	0	4	0.492	>0.999
no voluntary request	0	0	0	>0.999	>0.999
other reason(s)	7	12	9	0.879	0.832

Unweighted number of cases, weighted percentages.
*p-values calculated by logistic regression. Multivariate regression with confounders sex, marital status, cause of death, place of death (no interaction effects); educational attainment not featured in multivariate model due to the large number of missings.

ISSN: 1471-2458