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Table 1 Clinical characteristics of participants, overall and according to the presence of a wish to die

From: Life worth living: cross-sectional study on the prevalence and determinants of the wish to die in elderly patients hospitalized in an internal medicine ward

 

Total sample

No wish to die

Wish to die

P-value

Sample size

232

212

20

 

Age, mean (SD), years

79.3 (8.1)

78.9 (8.2)

83.6 (6.4)

.014

Women, %

44.8

44.8

45.0

.987

CASP-12, mean (SD)

26.1 (5.3)

26.5 (5.1)

21.4 (5.3)

<.001

QoL - Single question, mean (SD)

6.9 (1.8)

7.1 (1.6)

4.8 (2.6)

<.001a

MOS-SSS, mean (SD)

73.6 (15.6)

74.0 (15.7)

69.2 (14.1)

.114a

CES-D, mean (SD)

12.5 (6.7)

12.2 (6.5)

16.0 (7.8)

.044a

Adapted SPIR, mean (SD)

5.9 (3.2)

5.9 (3.3)

5.7 (2.7)

.619a

Charlson score, mean (SD)

5.9 (11.0)

5.3 (8.1)

12.7 (26.3)

.447a

Number of medications, mean (SD)

7.4 (3.8)

7.5 (3.9)

5.9 (3.4)

.067a

Functional status, mean (SD)

6.3 (1.3)

6.3 (1.3)

6.2 (1.3)

.805

DNR order, %

71.4

69.8

88.2

.108

  1. Adapted SPIR Spiritual needs and preferences (score: 0 to 10), CASP-12 Control, autonomy, self-realization and pleasure 12 items – French version (score: 0 to 36), CES-D Center for epidemiologic studies - depression (score: 0 to 60), DNR do not resuscitate, MOS-SSS Medical outcome study social support survey (score: 0 to 100), QoL Quality of life (score: 0 to 10). Wish to die defined as either a SAHD-senior score ≥ 10 or a CADO category ≥4. Between-group comparisons performed using Student’s t-test or Mann–Whitney test (a) for continuous variables and chi-square for categorical variables