Patterns of paediatric end-of-life care: a chart review across different care settings in Switzerland

BMC Pediatrics

Table 2 Place and circumstances of death

	Total N = 149 (100%)	Cardiology n = 19 (13%)	Neonatology n = 57 (38%)	Neurology n = 36 (24%)	Oncology n = 37 (25%)	p-value
Place of death, n (%)						< 0.001^a
PICU	63 (42)	13 (67)	27 (48)	13 (36)	10 (27)
NICU	30 (20)	0 (0)	27 (48)	3 (8)	0 (0)
Hospital ward / long-term institution	26 (18)	2 (11)	0 (0)	13 (36)	11 (30)
Home	25 (17)	2 (11)	2 (3)	7 (20)	14 (38)
Emergency department / Transport	5 (3)	2 (11)	1 (1)	0 (0)	2 (5)
CPR^b
Yes, n (%)	26 (17)	7 (37)	6 (11)	7 (19)	6 (16)	0.097^c
DNR order
Yes, n (%)	91 (62)	11 (58)	20 (35)	33 (92)	27 (77)	< 0.001^c
DNR order change within the last four weeks of life
Yes, n (%)	51 (57)	7 (64)	18 (90)	13 (41)	13 (48)	0.002^c
Withdrawal of life-sustaining interventions^d	n = 93	n = 13	n = 54	n = 16	n = 10
Yes, n (%)	78 (84)	10 (77)	49 (91)	12 (75)	7 (70)	0.203^c

PICU Paediatric intensive care unit, NICU Neonatal intensive care unit, CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, DNR Do not resuscitate
^aAcross the four groups, based on Fisher’s exact test
^bWithin 24 h before death
^cAcross the four groups, based on likelihood ratio chi-square
^dOnly applies to patients who died in an intensive care unit

ISSN: 1471-2431