Centre for Policy on Ageing



Treatment of terminal restlessness — a review of the evidence
Author(s)	Karen A Kehl
Journal title	Journal of Pain & Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, vol 18, no 1, 2004
Pages	pp 5-30
Source	Haworth Document Delivery Service, The Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton NY 13904-1580, USA. http://www.HaworthPress.com
Keywords	Confusion ; Terminal illness ; Drugs ; Terminal care ; Literature reviews.
Annotation	Terminal restlessness is an important issue in the management of symptoms at the end of life: previous studies indicate that between 25% and 88% of dying patients have exhibited this condition. The purpose of this review was to examine the empirical evidence about the pharmacological treatment for this condition. All available literature, in all languages, from 1966-2002, was reviewed as "best available evidence". Of the 72 articles reviewed, 14 met the criteria and were chosen for analysis. Results yielded that there was insufficient evidence to suggest that a single medication or class of medications is appropriate for terminal restlessness. There is a clear need for additional trials of neuroleptics, benzodiazepines, barbiturates and combination protocols to determine which protocols are the most effective and have the least side effects. (KJ/RH).
Accession Number	CPA-040928213 A
Classmark	EDC: CV: LLD: LV: 64A
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.