[Implication of near-death experience for the elderly in terminal care].
H Yamamura
Nihon Ronen Igakkai zasshi. Japanese journal of geriatrics February 1998 DOI: 10.3143/geriatrics.35.103 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 48 |
| Population | Patients admitted to hospital in deep coma (level III on the III-3 coma scale) due to cardiac arrest, pulmonary failure, cerebrovascular accident, or other life-threatening disease |
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key findings | 14 of 48 patients (37%) reported a near-death experience, but no background factors significantly explained its occurrence. NDE patients reported spiritual and attitudinal changes, viewing death as calm, unlike non-NDE patients. |
Abstract
Near-death experience (NDE) was studied in a series of 48 consecutive patients who were admitted to hospital in a deep coma (level III on the III-3 coma scale) due to cardiac arrest, pulmonary failure, cerebrovascular accident, and/or other life-threatening disease. When the patients recovered from coma without complications such as aphasia, dementia or mental disturbance, they were interviewed by the same physician following the same protocol consisting of 25 questions about their experience during the period of deep coma. Of 48 patients interviewed, 14 (37%) had a vivid and undeniably personal experience during their unconscious state. Factors attributable to the NDE were assessed by the following three methods. First, the frequency and odds ratio were examined in terms of gender, age, underlying disease, occupation, religion, education, site of accident, duration of comatose state, drugs and treatment for resuscitation, and drugs being taken at the time of interview. There were no specific factors significantly related to the NDE. Next, background factors were compared between the NDE positive and negative groups to detect a particular factor related to the NDE. However, there were no factors that showed significant frequency in the NDE-positive group. Finally, discriminatory analysis was performed to detect discriminatory factors in the occurrence of NDE by selecting NDE as an objective variable and background factors as explanatory variables. However, the discriminatory equation gained was not significant. Thus, there were no background factors that could explain the occurrence of NDE. Among the NDE reported, there were such elements as flying in a dark void space with dim light ahead, encountering dead relatives or friends, standing at the boundary of brook, river or pond, and returning to the world in response to a voice calling from behind. These elements are common to those reported by investigators abroad, except for the lack of a tunnel experience. As for the influence of the NDE on life subsequent to the experience, the majority of patients who had had a NDE stated that they became more sincere to towards every aspect of life and held spiritual values in high esteem than before. This was quite a contrast to the attitudes in the non-NDE patients who looked upon the comatose episode as arising from an underlying disease and considered it a health problem only. Most of the NDE patients considered that death was neither fearful nor difficult, but calm and peaceful if it occurs in a manner similar to that in their NDE. From this study, a picture can be down of the dying process, based on empirical information, it can also be seen that a NDE causes the individual to develop a sincere introspective depth. It is possible that these findings may be applicable to elderly patients in terminal care.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands Cardiac patients successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest in ten Dutch hospitals | 2001 | Prospective cohort study | n = 344 |
| Incidence and correlates of near-death experiences in a cardiac care unit Cardiac inpatients at a tertiary care center | 2003 | Observational cohort | n = 1,595 |
| Features of "near-death experience" in relation to whether or not patients were near death Patients who believed they were near death during an illness or after an injury and... | 1990 | Observational cohort | n = 58 |
| The phenomenology of near-death experiences Subjects who reported near-death experiences | 1980 | Retrospective study | n = 78 |
| Near-Death Experiences and the Temporal Lobe Individuals who reported having had a near-death experience during a life-threatening... | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- Impact of Near-Death Experiences on Dialysis Patients: A Multicenter Collaborative Study American Journal of Kidney Diseases July 1, 2007
- Near Death Experiences: A New Algorithmic Approach to Verifying Consciousness Outside the Brain NeuroQuantology May 26, 2010
- Comparison of free description and semi-structured interview as methods of studying near-death experience National Psychological Journal 2021
- Infrequent near death experiences in severe brain injury survivors - A quantitative and qualitative study. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology 2013
Cites 5
- Features of "near-death experience" in relation to whether or not patients were near death The Lancet November 1, 1990
- Culture, Biology, and the Near-Death Experience: A Reappraisal The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease March 1, 1993
- Varieties of Near-Death Experience Psychiatry November 1, 1993
- The near-death experience following multiple trauma Critical Care Nurse April 1, 1994
- The meaning of survival: the early aftermath of a near-death experience. Research in Nursing & Health June 1, 1995