An 8‐year observational study of the death places of patients with COPD in Turkey

Abstract

AimThe place of death is one of the indicators of the quality of end‐of‐life care, which has become an essential public health issue with the aging of the population and the increase in life expectancy. There is a lack of data regarding the location of deaths caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third‐leading cause of mortality worldwide. This retrospective, cross‐sectional study aimed to investigate the places of death of patients with COPD in Turkey and their trends over the years.MethodsThe study included patients who had a COPD International Classification of Diseases code in the hospital information system and were provided a medication report for this disease in a university hospital's chest diseases outpatient clinic between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2021. The place and date of death were obtained from the death notification system and recorded as an in‐hospital or out‐of‐hospital death.ResultsA total of 1402 (77.3%) patients died in the hospital and 412 (22.7%) died outside the hospital, and when comparing the pandemic period and before, no significant difference was observed between the places of death. Sixty‐three (49.6%) of 127 patients over the age of 90 years died outside the hospital, and a significant relationship was observed between advanced age and out‐of‐hospital mortality (P < 0.005).ConclusionAccording to our findings, a substantial number of patients with COPD in Turkey die in hospitals. The insufficiency of nursing homes and lack of hospice care cause more hospital deaths. Our data are expected to guide the development of end‐of‐life care policies for patients with COPD in our country. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2023; 23: 938–944.