Table 4 Psychological and physical symptoms in the last week of life of Belgian patients dying at home* non-suddenly: MSAS-GDI (N = 205)
From: Dying at home in Belgium: a descriptive GP interview study
|  | N (%)†| Rarely | Occasionally | Frequently | Almost constantly | N (%) §|| | N (%) §¶ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Psychological symptoms | Presence | How frequently did the patient experience the symptom? N (%)?‡ | Physical or psychological symptom most difficult to manage | Most distressing physical or psychological symptom | |||
Feeling sad | 104 (51) | 6 (6) | 26 (25) | 36 (35) | 35 (34) | 14 (9) | 10 (6) |
Worrying | 95 (46) | 4 (4) | 25 (26) | 35 (37) | 30 (32) | 5 (3) | 8 (5) |
Feeling irritable | 62 (30) | 7 (11) | 25 (40) | 20 (32) | 9 (15) | 4 (3) | 2 (1) |
Feeling nervous | 88 (43) | 8 (9) | 38 (43) | 28 (32) | 14 (16) | 5 (3) | 4 (2) |
Physical symptoms | Presence | How much did the symptom distress/bother the patient? N (%)?‡ |  |  | |||
|  | N (%) †| Not at all/A little | Somewhat | Quite a bit | Very much |  |  |
Lack of appetite | 177 (86) | 75 (42) | 26 (15) | 43 (24) | 31 (18) | 19 (12) | 8 (5) |
Lack of energy | 187 (91) | 36 (19) | 30 (16) | 50 (27) | 67 (36) | 30 (19) | 47 (27) |
Pain | 114 (56) | 37 (32) | 38 (33) | 24 (21) | 13 (11) | 18 (12) | 28 (16) |
Feeling drowsy | 147 (72) | 66 (45) | 36 (24) | 33 (22) | 7 (5) | 6 (4) | 4 (2) |
Constipation | 78 (38) | 34 (44) | 28 (36) | 11 (14) | 4 (5) | 6 (4) | 6 (3) |
Dry mouth | 97 (47) | 31 (32) | 29 (30) | 28 (29) | 7 (7) | 6 (4) | 10 (6) |
Shortness of breath | 111 (54) | 25 (23) | 25 (23) | 25 (23) | 35 (31) | 42 (27) | 46 (27) |
Mean N° of symptoms per patient (SD) | 6.15 ± 2.49 | ||||||
Global Distress Index (Mean, SD)** | 1.57 ± 0.68 | ||||||