Only one in 10 of us ‘slip away’ when we die – study
ONLY ONE in 10 very old people simply “slip away” when they die, a study suggests.
Just 10 per cent of the oldest old have no symptoms such as pain, distress, depression or confusion at the time of death, researchers found. Experts from the University of Cambridge performed a analysis on people who died at an average age of 91.
After examining records and interviews with loved ones, the team found distress, pain, depression and delirium or confusion each affected 40 to 50 per cent of participants. And most people had experienced combinations of two or more of these symptoms.
But the researchers found that these symptoms were not always treated effectively. Pain was addressed in the majority of those who were suffering, but only effectively for half of the cases. Only “a fraction” of those who suffered depression had treatment, the authors said.
Lead author Dr Jane Fleming said: “We’ve published research before about preferences and attitudes towards death and dying and so many people are wishing, that the ideal would be, that they would die in their sleep peacefully, or slip away.
“But from these interviews we have done with relatives, when they were asked about what sort of symptoms people experienced in that final stage, there was such a small minority who didn’t have some sort of symptom.
“So that idea of dying pain free without any distress only seemed to apply to a small minority, about 10 per cent.”