Current wishes to die; characteristics of middle-aged and older Dutch adults who are ready to give up on life: a cross-sectional study

Kox, Roosmarijne M. K.; Pasman, H. Roeline W.; Huisman, Martijn; Benneker, Wim; Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Bregje D.

doi:10.1186/s12910-021-00632-4

Table 2 Characteristics of middle-aged and older adults who have never had death thoughts or wishes, who have at some point experienced death thoughts or wishes and who have a current wish to die or a weak wish to live ordered per domain of vulnerability

From: Current wishes to die; characteristics of middle-aged and older Dutch adults who are ready to give up on life: a cross-sectional study

Characteristics per domain of vulnerability	Total	Never death thoughts or wishes	Has had death thoughts or wishes	Current wish*	p value
	(n = 1563)	(n = 1312)	(n = 189)	(n = 62)
	%/µ (SD)	%/µ (SD)	%/µ (SD)	%/µ (SD)
Demographics
Sex					0.053
Male	46.4	47.7	41.3	35.5
Female	53.6	52.3	58.7	64.5
Age^a					< 0.001
< 65 years	27.6	26.4	38.1	21.0
65 to < 75	41.5	42.5	37.0	33.9
75 to < 85	23.1	23.9	18.0	22.6
≥ 85 years	7.9	7.3	6.9	22.6
Marital status^a					< 0.001
Never married	7.4	6.0	16.9	8.1
Married and registered partnership	67.2	70.7	51.9	41.9
Divorced	8.1	6.9	13.8	14.5
Widowhood	17.3	16.4	17.5	35.5
Level of attained education					0.107
Low	32.8	33.7	24.9	38.7
Middle	38.5	38.3	41.3	32.3
High	28.7	28.0	33.9	29.0
Level of urbanization^b					0.029
Sparsely populated (< 1000)	44.9	46.4	38.8	33.9
Densely populated (≥ 1000)	54.9	53.6	61.2	66.1
Housing^c,d					0.007
Independent living	99.4	99.5	99.5	95.2
Dependent living (residential or nursing home	0.6	0.5	0.5	4.8
Physical vulnerability
Number of chronic diseases (out of 7)^e					0.020
0 diseases	24.6	25.9	18.5	14.5
1 disease	39.1	39.1	40.2	35.5
≥ 2 diseases	36.3	35.0	41.3	50.0
Incontinence^a,b					0.027
No	94.0	96.2	93.5	90.3
Yes	4.3	3.8	6.5	9.7
Pain^b					< 0.001
No pain [5]	67.2	71.9	53.6	41.9
Some pain (6–7)	17.7	17.2	21.3	25.8
Many pain (> 7)	13.2	10.9	25.1	32.3
Hearing impairment^a,b					0.011
No impairment	66.3	70.0	61.6	61.7
Some difficulty	26.0	26.0	33.5	26.7
Much difficulty/not able to hear	4.3	4.0	4.9	11.7
Visual impairment^a,b,d					0.294
No impairment	85.3	90.1	86.7	85.0
Some difficulty	7.5	7.4	10.5	10.0
Much difficulty/not able to see	2.5	2.5	2.8	5.0
Dizziness^a,b					< 0.001
No	87.4	91.9	84.3	75.0
Yes	9.3	8.1	15.7	25.0
Number of activities with some difficulty or worse (out of 7)^b					< 0.001
0 activities	47.0	49.5	38.2	20.0
1 activity	21.7	21.4	22.0	28.3
≥ 2 activities	31.3	29.1	39.8	51.7
Balance^a,b					< 0.001
No balance disorder	84.8	89.0	83.6	72.7
Balance disorder	10.4	9.6	14.8	25.5
Refused/not able to	1.4	1.4	1.6	1.8
Whether or not help was received with personal care^a					0.023
No	96.8	97.3	94.2	93.5
Yes	3.2	2.7	5.8	6.5
Sufficiency of received help^a,b,d					< 0.001
Sufficient	91.6	93.1	89.3	79.0
In between sufficient/insufficient	5.8	5.5	5.3	14.5
Insufficient	2.0	1.4	5.3	6.5
Health problems limit normal activities^a,b					< 0.001
No	60.8	63.5	48.7	41.9
Yes, slightly	29.5	28.1	34.4	43.5
Yes, severely	9.6	8.3	16.9	14.5
Self-perceived health^b					< 0.001
Very good to excellent	29.2	31.7	21.4	11.5
Good	53.4	55.5	50.8	32.8
Fair to poor	16.1	12.8	27.8	55.7
Cognitive vulnerability
MMSE score^b					< 0.001
≥ 27	83.0	83.1	88.9	66.1
10–26	16.9	16.9	11.1	33.9
Problems with memory^b					< 0.001
No	66.0	69.0	53.4	43.5
Yes	33.8	31.0	46.6	56.5
Social vulnerability
Loneliness^b					< 0.001
Not lonely (0–2)	74.2	77.7	65.1	29.0
Lonely (3–11)	25.8	22.3	34.9	71.0
Network size^b					< 0.001
0–12	34.6	33.2	35.7	63.6
13–20	30.5	31.1	28.6	21.8
21–70	34.9	35.7	35.7	14.5
Health problems limit social activities^a,b					< 0.001
Little/none of the time	76.3	80.6	61.5	39.3
Some of the time	18.2	15.9	28.3	37.7
Most/all of the time	5.0	3.4	10.2	23.0
Self-perceived quality of life^a,b,d					< 0.001
Rather/very good	84.6	89.1	72.2	35.5
Neither poor nor good	12.6	9.5	24.1	45.2
Rather/very poor	2.4	1.5	3.7	19.4
Financial problems^a,b,d					< 0.001
No	97.4	98.3	93.9	89.1
Yes	2.6	1.7	6.1	10.9
Conflict with other person(s)^b					< 0.001
No	89.1	90.5	80.7	83.6
Yes	10.9	9.5	19.3	16.4
Illness of partner or spouse^a,f					0.558
No	81.9	82.4	78.2	81.5
Yes	18.1	17.6	21.8	18.5
Death of sons, daughters and/or grandchildren^c,d,f					0.037
No	98.6	98.8	98.7	94.1
Yes	1.4	1.2	1.3	5.9
Psychological vulnerability
Depressive symptoms^b					< 0.001
Normal (< 16)	88.5	92.1	77.2	49.2
Depressive symptoms (≥ 16)	11.4	7.9	22.8	50.8
Depression past year^a,b,d					< 0.001
No depression	96.9	99.1	93.5	82.5
Depression	2.2	0.9	6.5	17.5
Anxiety^a,b,d					< 0.001
Normal (< 7)	92.3	94.8	84.1	65.6
Suggestive for anxiety disorder (8–10)	4.9	3.5	11.1	16.4
Anxiety disorder (> 10)	2.7	1.7	4.8	18.0
Self-esteem^g	15.6 (2.1)	15.3 (3.6)	14.1 (4.2)	11.5 (5.5)	< 0.001
Perceived self-efficacy	44.0 (5.6)	44.3 (5.5)	43.3 (5.6)	40.0 (5.9)	< 0.001
Mastery	24.7 (4.1)	25.1 (4.0)	23.3 (4.2)	21.6 (4.2)	< 0.001
Lately satisfied with life^a,b					< 0.001
(Very) satisfied	83.7	88.2	70.7	38.7
Not dissatisfied/satisfied	12.3	9.4	22.3	45.2
(Very) dissatisfied	3.5	2.4	6.9	16.1
Meaningfulness of life^a,b					< 0.001
Very much to an extreme amount	62.4	67.7	43.9	11.3
A moderate amount	34.0	30.5	48.7	67.7
A little to not at all	3.2	1.8	7.5	21.0

n, number of participants; µ, mean; SD, standard deviation; * current wish to die or a weak wish to live
^aMinimum expected count between 1 and 6
^bLess than 5% missing values
^cMinimum expected count less than 1
^dFisher–Freeman–Halton Exact Test was used
^eChronic diseases: chronic non-specific lung disease, cardiac disease, peripheral arterial disease, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular accident or stroke, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, cancer
^fAbove 5% missing values; illness of partner/spouse: 28.9% and death of sons, daughters and/or grandchildren: 11.5%
^gKruskal–Wallis test was used

Back to article page

ISSN: 1472-6939

Contact us

General enquiries: journalsubmissions@springernature.com

BMC Medical Ethics

Contact us