Pharmacological treatment of pain, dyspnea, death rattle, fever, nausea, and vomiting in the last days of life in older people: A systematic review.

Background: Evidence based guidelines for treatment of physical symptoms during the last days of life in older people are not available.

Aim: We wanted to synthesize the existing evidence on the pharmacological treatment of pain, dyspnea, death rattle, fever, nausea, and vomiting during the last days of life in older people to develop recommendations that can help guide clinical practice.

Design: A systematic review was conducted (PROSPERO #CRD42023406100) and reported in accordance with PRISMA guidelines.

Data sources: MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched from inception till March 2023, together with national and international guideline databases.

Results: Four predominantly descriptive studies on opioid use were included for the treatment of pain and four for dyspnea, without clear evidence for the choice of one specific opioid, nor a specific opioid dose. For death rattle, five randomized controlled trials and two retrospective studies were included. These provide evidence for the prophylactic treatment of death rattle with hyoscine butylbromide. For fever, nausea, and vomiting, no articles met the inclusion criteria.

Conclusion: Limited evidence exists to guide the pharmacological treatment of pain, dyspnea, death rattle, fever, nausea, and vomiting in the last days of life of older people. Other than the use of opioids for treatment of pain and dyspnea and prophylactic administration of hyoscine butylbromide to decrease the likelihood of developing death rattle, no specific recommendations can be formulated for use in clinical practice. This demonstrates the challenging nature of research in the last days of life of older people, despite its pressing need.