Six months of survival as a key criterion is extremely important for decision making in enrollment of critically
ill patients to palliative settings. This was a prospective cohort study with 6 months of follow-up during a 24-month period performed in the Division of Geriatric Medicine in a tertiary general hospital. One-hundred three consecutively admitted, bedridden patients with end-stage dementia were evaluated. The Mini-Suffering State Examination scale was performed. Interrelations between the Mini-Suffering State Examination score at admission and 6-month survival and mortality were evaluated. A significant difference was proven among survival curves of subgroups of patients according to the mini scores (0-3, 4-6, 7-10). Survival was shorter and mortality higher in patients with a high Mini-Suffering State Examination score, as shown by the Kaplan-Meier method using the log rank (P = .001) and Breslow tests (P = .001). The Mini-Suffering State Examination scale is useful for predicting the last 6 months of survival and mortality of end-stage dementia patients.
Keywords: dementia; end-of-life; critical illness; hospice; suffering; survival; mortality