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End-of-life Care for Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

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Self Management of Chronic Disease

Abstract

In industrialized countries, many people are dying with dementia and a steep rise is expected over the coming decades. In the Netherlands, for example, at present one out of nine decedents has dementia (van der Meulen and Keij-Deerenberg 2003). Dementia patients, including those with Alzheimer’s disease, should receive the best possible end-of-life care. Patients dying with dementia as a group resemble patients dying from other diseases such as cancer in that pain and shortness of breath are possibly the most common burdensome symptoms in the dying phase (McCarthy et al. 1997; van der Steen et al. 2007a).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EMGO Institute Department of Nursing Home Medicine and Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Jenny T. van der Steen PhD & Luc Deliens Prof. Dr. (Professor of Public Health and Palliative Care)

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  1. Jenny T. van der Steen PhD
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  2. Luc Deliens Prof. Dr.
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  1. Postfach 3244, 4002, Basel, Switzerland

    Sabine Bährer-Kohler

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van der Steen, J.T., Deliens, L. (2009). End-of-life Care for Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. In: Bährer-Kohler, S. (eds) Self Management of Chronic Disease. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00326-4_9

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