Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research have discovered that many older people need resuscitation during the last year of life. Research published American Journal of Public Health.
The study’s authors analyzed all deaths in Sweden from 2018 to 2020. They first looked at the last year of life in people aged 70 and over, which allowed them to identify six different types of trajectories leading to death, depending on whether they needed medical care and care for the elderly in their last year of life. life and in what class.
Most deaths did not correspond to what is often referred to as a “good” death, in which a person still has control of their body and mind and requires little health care. In addition, the results showed that the increase in life expectancy was partly due to the longer course of death. Care needs were even more prevalent among people over the age of 83 (current average life expectancy in Sweden).
Before having a discussion about the “death process and what a “good” death really means, it is crucial to understand how people experience the end of life. The time for such a discussion is long past and we are taking the next step in our work,” the scientists write.