Dtsch Arztebl Int
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Dying with dementia: symptom burden, quality of care, and place of death.
No detailed information has been available until now about the care setting, circumstances and place of death, symptom burden, and quality of care of persons with end-stage dementia in Germany. ⋯ These data indicate the high symptom burden of persons with dementia in Germany at the end of their lives. They underscore the need for proper palliative care in all of the settings where persons with dementia die. Specialized in- and outpatient palliative care should not be offered only to patients with cancer, but should rather be made available to all who need it.
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Comparative Study
A comparison of the treatment of severe injuries between the former East and West German States.
The annual number of persons killed in road-traffic accidents in Germany declined by 36% from 2001 to 2008, yet official traffic statistics still reveal a marked difference in fatalities between the federal states of the former East and West Germany twenty years after German reunification. ⋯ Among the hospitals whose cases are included in the TR-DGU, there is no significant difference between the former East and West Germany with respect to mortality or any other clinically relevant variable. Hypothetically, the higher rate of death from road-traffic accidents in the former East Germany, as revealed by national traffic statistics, might be attributable to a difference in the quality of care received by trauma patients, but no such difference was found. Other potential reasons for it might be poorer road conditions, more initially fatal accidents, and lower accessibility of medical care in less densely populated areas.