Attitudes toward withholding antibiotics from people with dementia lacking decisional capacity: findings from a survey of Canadian stakeholders

Table 1 Respondent characteristics and attitudes toward continuous deep sedation and medical assistance in dying for a person with dementia who lacks decisional capacity^a

Characteristics and attitudes	Seniors n = 317	Caregivers n = 306	Nurses n = 291	Physicians n = 136
Age (in years)	72.7 ± 5.9	65.9 ± 11.4	51.7 ± 9.1	49.2 ± 12.5
Gender (female)	53%	72%	82%	60%
Religiosity^b	5.9 ± 4.2	5.9 ± 4.0	5.3 ± 3.6	3.5 ± 3.5
Have accompanied a dying relative or friend through the dying process	70%	67%	69%	60%
Have themselves completed an advance directive	44%	43%	34%	49%
Find it acceptable (somewhat or totally) to extend medical assistance in dying to the person with dementia
At the advanced stage	76%	68%	53%	45%
At the terminal stage	90%	91%	83%	71%
Find it acceptable (somewhat or totally) to deeply sedate the person with dementia until death, at the terminal stage	79%	69%	70%	68%

^aData shown are means ± standard deviations or percentages derived from valid cases. Few data were missing: from 1 for gender to 23 for one or more of the four items involved in deriving the religiosity index
^bThe religiosity index is derived by combining answers to four questions developed by Statistics Canada for the General Social Survey [56]. Total scores range from 0 to 13 and are interpreted in three broad categories: low (0 – 5), moderate (6 – 10), and high (11 – 13)

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