End of Life Deserves as Much Beauty, Care, Respect as Does Beginning

Background: Life-sustaining therapy (LST) limitations restrict unnecessary treatments and suffering in patients and families. Age is a major factor for LST limitations at the end of life; however, the relationship between age and LST limitations have not been researched. Objective: To study whether age influences LST limitations at end of life in ICUs worldwide. Design: Multinational, multicenter, prospective observational study. Participants/Methods: Countries participating were grouped into the following regions: Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Central Europe, Northern Europe, and Southern Europe, and ICU patients aged ≥13 years who died and/or had LST limitations during a 6-month period were selected by each participating ICU between September 2015 and September 2016. Patients with brain death were excluded. Ethics in the ICU (ETHICUS-2) data were completed by each institution’s senior intensivist responsible for the end-of-life practice more...