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Table 3 Death wishes and existential issues

From: Prevalence and characteristics of older adults with a persistent death wish without severe illness: a large cross-sectional survey

Aspects and items

Active

persistent death wish, no severe illness

N = 155

(0.7% of 21,294)

Passive persistent death wish, no severe illness

N = 93

(0.4% of 21,294)

Persistent

death wish (passive/ active

nature unknown), no severe illness

N = 19

(< 0.1% of 21,294)

Total group

“Persistent

death wish, no severe illness”

(PDW-NSI)

N = 267

(1.25% of 21,294)

Answer “No” to differentiation question - Does the description “seeing no future for oneself, longing for death, while not being severely ill” apply to you?

N = 20,883

(97.8% of 21,294)

P-value

PDW-NSI

group

vs.

Diff. question

= No

P-value

Active

vs.

Passive

Duration of having a death wish

 Whole life

27 (17.4)

21 (22.6)

2 (10.5)

50 (18.7)

N/A

N/A

0.481

 A few years

97 (62.6)

54 (58.1)

17 (89.5)

168 (62.9)

N/A

 Approximately one year

31 (20.0)

18 (19.4)

0 (0.0)

49 (18.4)

N/A

Characterization of the death wish

 A desire for a natural death that just happens

22 (14.2)

25 (26.9)

3 (15.8)

50 (18.7)

N/A

N/A

0.008

 A desire to not wake up tomorrow and die in my sleep

86 (55.5)

43 (46.2)

9 (47.4)

138 (51.7)

N/A

 I feel my current situation is unlivable

7 (4.5)

2 (2.2)

2 (10.5)

11 (4.1)

N/A

 A wish to end my life myself

23 (14.8)

6 (6.5)

0 (0.0)

29 (10.9)

N/A

 A wish for a doctor to help me end my life

8 (5.2)

4 (4.3)

2 (10.5)

14 (5.2)

N/A

 A wish for another professional or someone close to help me end my life

5 (3.2)

3 (3.2)

0 (0.0)

8 (3.0)

N/A

 I do not know

4 (2.6)

10 (10.8)

3 (15.8)

17 (6.4)

N/A

Having made concrete plans / taken steps

 No

104 (67.1)

93 (100.0)

19 (100.0)

216 (80.9)

N/A

N/A

N/A

 Yes, namely:a

51 (32.9)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

51 (19.1)

N/A

  Decisions about end of lifeb

24 (15.5)

N/A

N/A

24 (8.9)

N/A

  Membership of interest groupc

14 (9.0)

N/A

N/A

14 (5.2)

N/A

  Contact with a Caregiverd

9 (5.8)

N/A

N/A

9 (3.4)

N/A

  Searched for means to end one’s lifee

6 (3.9)

N/A

N/A

6 (2.2)

N/A

  Searched for information

3 (1.9)

N/A

N/A

3 (1.1)

N/A

  Attempted suicide

2 (1.3)

N/A

N/A

2 (0.7)

N/A

  Other

3 (1.9)

N/A

N/A

3 (1.1)

N/A

Having seriously considered attempting suicide in the past 12 months

 Never

20 (12.9)

93 (100.0)

0 (0.0)

113 (42.3)

N/A

N/A

N/A

 Once in a while

80 (51.6)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

80 (30.0)

N/A

 Now and then

38 (24.5)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

38 (14.2)

N/A

 Often

15 (9.7)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

15 (5.6)

N/A

 Very often

2 (1.3)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

2 (0.7)

N/A

 Not willing to answer

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

19 (100.0)

19 (7.1)

N/A

Having made a suicide attempt in the past 12 monthsf

 No

125 (92.6)g

N/A

N/A

125 (46.8)

N/A

N/A

N/A

 Yes

3 (2.2)

N/A

N/A

3 (1.1)

N/A

 Not willing to answer

7 (5.2)

N/A

N/A

7 (2.6)

N/A

Preference not to have to experience the futureh

 Median (Q1-Q3)

5 (5–6)

5 (3–6)

6 (4–7)

5 (4–6)

1 (1–2)

0.000

0.001

Finding life worthwhile at this moment

 Yes

67 (43.2)

56 (60.2)

8 (42.1)

131 (49.1)

20,568 (98.5)

0.000

0.013

 No

88 (56.8)

37 (39.8)

11 (57.9)

136 (50.9)

315 (1.5)

Being weighed down by the burden of lifei

 Median (Q1-Q3)

5 (4–6)

4 (3–6)

5 (4.5–6)

5 (3–6)

1 (1–2)

0.000

0.014

  1. Results are presented as N (%) unless “Median (Q1-Q3)” is reported
  2. Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding
  3. Medians are reported with 25th–75th percentiles
  4. N/A = not applicable
  5. Statistically significant results (p < 0.05) are in bold
  6. aN = 61 because respondents could name more than one plan/step in answering the open question
  7. bIncludes wish or order “do not resuscitate”, wish for euthanasia in due time (in some cases recorded in an Advanced Euthanasia Directive), refraining from medical treatment (in some cases recorded in an advanced directive), having made a testament, having written down something considering end-of-life (not specified)
  8. cInterest group concerning voluntary end of life
  9. dIncludes receiving treatment (psychological or psychiatric)
  10. eIncludes respondents who already obtained means to end their life
  11. fN = 135 due to the fact that respondents who answered “never” or “not willing to answer” to the previous question (having seriously considered a suicide attempt) were not asked this question
  12. gPercentages are based on N = 135
  13. h7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“not at all”) to 7 (“very strong”). Respondents could also answer “I do not know”. Therefore, N = 151, N = 83, N = 16, N = 250, N = 989 (comparison group), respectively
  14. i7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“not at all”) to 7 (“very strong”). Respondents could also answer “I do not know”. Therefore, N = 154, N = 90, N = 18, N = 262, N = 1014 (comparison group), respectively
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BMC Geriatrics

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