Background At the time of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, little was known about how effective our regular end-of-life care strategies would be for patients dying from COVID-19 in hospitals. The aim of the study was to describe and evaluate end-of-life care for patients dying from COVID-19 in hospitals in Sweden up until up until 12 November 2020. Methods Data were collected from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care. Hospital deaths during 2020 for patients with COVID-19 were included and compared to a reference cohort of hospital patients who died during 2019. Logistic regression was used to compare the groups and to control for impact of sex, age and a diagnosis of dementia. Results The COVID-19 group (1476 individuals) had a lower proportion of women and was older compared to the reference cohort (13,158 individuals), 81.8 versus 80.6 years ( p < .001). Breathlessness was more commonly reported in the COVID-19 group compared to the reference cohort (72% vs 43%, p < .001). Furthermore, anxiety and delirium were more commonly and respiratory secretions, nausea and pain were less commonly reported during the last week in life in the COVID-19 group ( p < .001 for all five symptoms). When present, complete relief of anxiety ( p = .021), pain ( p = .025) and respiratory secretions ( p = .037) was more often achieved in the COVID-19 group. In the COVID-19 group, 57% had someone present at the time of death compared to 77% in the reference cohort ( p < .001). Conclusions The standard medical strategies for symptom relief and end-of-life care in hospitals seemed to be acceptable. Symptoms in COVID-19 deaths in hospitals were relieved as much as or even to a higher degree than in hospitals in 2019. Importantly, though, as a result of closing the hospitals to relatives and visitors, patients dying from COVID-19 more frequently died alone, and healthcare providers were not able to substitute for absent relatives.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, pandemic, hospitals, Palliative care, End-of-life care, Dementia, 【초록키워드】 Anxiety, COVID-19 pandemic, hospital, Diagnosis, Sex, Symptom, Symptoms, Palliative care, End-of-life care, Dementia, Cohort, delirium, Patient, Pain, death, Logistic regression, age, women, respiratory, group, First wave, Care, life, time of death, breathlessness, Older, Healthcare provider, secretion, nausea, healthcare providers, COVID-19 group, Complete, palliative, FIVE, effective, Result, was used, collected, evaluate, died, proportion, reported, less, Swedish, individuals, patients with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 hospital, Symptom, COVID-19 patient, Support,