End of Life Care Special Interest Group (SIG)

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted more widespread and earlier decision-making regarding resuscitation status. Although case fatality rates were higher for older hospitalised patients with COVID-19, many older patients survived the illness. Advance care planning should be prioritised in all patients and should remain as part of good clinical practice despite the pandemic.

Physical functioning, role functioning and depressive symptoms deteriorate over the last 5 years of life of older people with cancer. End-of-life care needs to put their social and psychological well-being at the centre, alongside physical needs.

The desire to live into advanced ages is significantly reduced by hypothetical adverse life scenarios, with the strongest effect caused by dementia and chronic pain.

WTD amongst community-dwelling older people is frequently transient and is strongly linked with the course of depressive symptoms and loneliness. An enhanced focus on improving access to mental health care and addressing social isolation in older people should therefore be a public health priority, particularly in the current context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Healthcare aims to help older people to live well, but ultimately must also support them to die well. Most people die in old age, but predicting death in both short- and long-term is impossible for many, although not all, older people.