Table 3.

Frequency of end-of-life decisions in non-sudden deaths according to community and setting in Belgium

Place of death	Home or care home					Hospital or palliative care unit
	Dutch-speaking		French-speaking			Dutch-speaking		French-speaking
	N	%	N	%	OR [95%CI]a	N	%	N	%	OR [95%CI]a
Euthanasia/assisted suicidec	8	1.6	4	1.1	1.41 [0.42–4.71]	8	1.6	2	0.7	2.28 [0.48–10.82]
Administering life-ending drugs without explicit patient request	10	2.0	7	2.0	1.00 [0.38–2.66]	7	1.4	2	0.7	1.99 [0.41–9.65]
Intensified alleviation of symptoms taking life-shortening into account	155	30.9	95	27.1	1.23 [0.95–1.60]	112	22.1	57	19.9	1.14 [0.80–1.63]
Intensified alleviation of symptoms with partly life-shortening intent	18	3.6	5	1.4	2.47 [1.06–5.75] b	10	2.0	3	1.1	1.90 [0.52–6.97]
Non-treatment taking life-shortening into account	54	10.8	30	8.6	1.30 [0.81–2.11]	31	6.1	12	4.2	1.49 [0.75–2.95]
Non-treatment with explicit life-shortening intent	51	10.2	18	5.1	2.20 [1.24–3.91]	41	8.1	29	10.1	0.78 [0.47–1.29]
Total ELD	296	59.1	159	45.3	1.80 [1.36–2.40]	209	41.3	105	36.7	1.16 [0.85–1.57]
All sedation	22	4.4	29	8.2	0.51 [0.29–0.91]	60	12.0	66	23.7	0.45 [0.30–0.66]
Continuous deep sedation forgoing food/fluid	16	3.2	20	5.7	0.58 [0.33–1.02] b	20	4.0	17	6.1	0.64 [0.33–1.24]
Continuous deep sedation administrating food/fluid	6	1.2	9	2.6	0.45 [0.16–1.29]	40	8.0	49	17.6	0.42 [0.26–0.66]

^a Odds ratios based on logistic regression with community as predictor (French = ref cat) and controlling for patients' age, sex, educational level, and cause of death.

^b The probability was significant if alpha = .10 (i.e. level of the CI is 90%)

^c Cases of euthanasia or assisted suicide were not reported for patients dying in a care home