| Hospital | Home | Care home | p Value† | Total‡ | ||
| Belgium, no. of non-sudden deaths§ (% of all deaths) | 1054 (71.5%) | 417 (53.3%) | 457 (73.8%) | <0.001 | 1938 (65.7%) | |
| Physician-assisted death | 2.6 | 4.3∗∗ | 2.0 | 0.101 | 2.8 | |
| Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide | 0.3 | 1.4∗∗ | 0.0 | 0.005 | 0.5 | |
| Life-ending without explicit patient request | 2.3 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 0.804 | 2.3 | |
| Alleviation of pain/symptoms | 34.4 | 38.3 | 26.0 | <0.001 | 33.3 | |
| Taking into account life-shortening | 30.0 | 32.5 | 23.2 | 0.005 | 28.9 | |
| Partly intending life-shortening | 4.5 | 5.8 | 2.8 | 0.099 | 4.3 | |
| Non-treatment decision | 22.4 | 17.7∗∗ | 26.0 | 0.012 | 22.2 | |
| Taking into account life-shortening | 9.9 | 6.5∗∗ | 10.7 | 0.060 | 9.3 | |
| Explicitly intending life-shortening | 12.5 | 11.3 | 15.3 | 0.179 | 12.9 | |
| Denmark, no. of non-sudden deaths§ (% of all deaths) | 736 (63.9%) | 413 (56.2%) | 762 (86.0%) | <0.001 | 1954 (66.5%) | |
| Physician-assisted death | 0.7 | 2.7∗∗ | 0.9 | 0.015 | 1.2 | |
| Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.034 | 0.2 | |
| Life-ending without explicit patient request | 0.7 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.131 | 1.0 | |
| Alleviation of pain/symptoms | 37.1 | 46.2 | 37.5 | 0.005 | 39.0 | |
| Taking into account life-shortening | 33.3 | 42.1∗∗ | 35.3∗∗ | 0.011 | 35.7 | |
| Partly intending life-shortening | 3.8 | 4.1 | 2.2 | 0.110 | 3.3 | |
| Non-treatment decision | 27.0 | 14.5∗∗ | 18.9∗∗ | <0.001 | 20.9 | |
| Taking into account life-shortening | 11.7 | 6.1∗∗ | 9.4∗∗ | 0.007 | 9.5 | |
| Explicitly intending life-shortening | 15.4 | 8.5∗∗ | 9.4∗∗ | <0.001 | 11.4 | |
| Sweden, no. of non-sudden deaths§ (% of all deaths) | 948 (67.9%) | 315 (46.7%) | 842 (78.8%) | <0.001 | 2145 (66.0%) | |
| Physician-assisted death | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.999 | 0.4 | |
| Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – | 0.0 | |
| Life-ending without explicit patient request | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.999 | 0.4 | |
| Alleviation of pain/symptoms | 29.2 | 29.8 | 33.3 | 0.168 | 30.8 | |
| Taking into account life-shortening | 28.6 | 29.8 | 32.5 | 0.189 | 30.2 | |
| Partly intending life-shortening | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.387 | 0.6 | |
| Non-treatment decision | 27.2 | 17.5∗∗ | 16.0∗∗ | <0.001 | 21.4 | |
| Taking into account life-shortening | 8.6 | 5.4 | 6.3∗∗ | 0.069 | 7.3 | |
| Explicitly intending life-shortening | 18.5 | 12.1∗∗ | 9.7∗∗ | <0.001 | 14.1 | |
| Switzerland, no. of non-sudden deaths§ (% of all deaths) | 1044 (83.7%) | 354 (46.6%) | 867 (77.0%) | <0.001 | 2283 (68.0%) | |
| Physician-assisted death | 0.4 | 5.1∗∗ | 1.2∗∗ | <0.001 | 1.5 | |
| Euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide | 0.1 | 3.4∗∗ | 0.6∗∗ | <0.001 | 0.9 | |
| Life-ending without explicit patient request | 0.3 | 1.7∗∗ | 0.6 | 0.018 | 0.6 | |
| Alleviation of pain/symptoms | 34.3 | 33.3 | 30.3 | 0.158 | 32.4 | |
| Taking into account life-shortening | 31.1 | 28.0 | 26.6 | 0.081 | 28.7 | |
| Partly intending life-shortening | 3.2 | 5.4 | 3.7 | 0.170 | 3.7 | |
| Non-treatment decision | 41.3 | 32.8∗∗ | 43.1 | 0.003 | 40.8 | |
| Taking into account life-shortening | 8.8 | 7.3 | 13.2 | 0.001 | 10.3 | |
| Explicitly intending life-shortening | 32.6 | 25.4∗∗ | 29.9 | 0.038 | 30.5 | |
∗All data are weighted (i.e. adjusted for stratification and sociodemographic characteristics).
†Fisher’s exact test for differences between home, hospital and care home.
‡This includes a small number of deaths in other places. Totals might not add up.
§Number of deaths (and percentage within total number of deaths in hospital, at home, etc.) in which an end-of-life decision was possible (i.e. not sudden or unexpected, and when the physician first saw the patient before the the patient’s death).
∗∗The probability remained statistically higher or lower than for hospitals (reference category) in a logistic regression controlling for age, sex and cause of death.