Survey about Death Certificates of Senile Patients Who Died of Pneumonia as A Complication ~from A Survey on The Diagnosis of Senility~ / 日本プライマリ・ケア連合学会誌

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate cause of death recorded by home medical care physicians on the death certificates of senile patients who died of pneumonia as a complication, and to examine physician-level factors related to selection of the cause of death.Methods: We used a mail questionnaire survey to conduct a cross-sectional study of members of the Japan Network of Home Care-Supporting Clinics.Results: In total, 470 valid responses were received (response rate 51.8%). The immediate cause of death was recorded as pneumonia in cases of complication by pneumonia "always" by 95 physicians (20.2%), "often" by 131 (27.9%), "sometimes" by 134 (28.5%), "rarely" by 91 (19.4%), and "never" by 19 (4.0%). Multivariate analysis revealed that female physicians were significantly less likely to record the immediate cause of death as senility (OR 0.10, 95%CI 0.01-0.71).Conclusion: The immediate cause of death recorded on death certificates varied in cases of senile patients who died of pneumonia as a complication. The present study also suggested that selection of the cause of death was influenced by the gender of physicians.