Fear of dying increased by supportive relatives

 30 March 2010  

Studies of people aged over 65 in the UK have revealed that elderly individuals from ethnic minority groups with a large number of supportive relatives are likely to have a greater fear of dying.

The finding, which has been published in Postgraduate Medical Journal, seems to contradict views that the presence of supportive informal family carers eases the fear of death.

In a bid to gauge attitudes to death and dying, 1,000 people aged 65 and over were asked about how much they feared dying, the manner of death, losing control over their death and suffering pain.

More than half of the ethnic minority sample, which included people of Indian, Pakistani, Black Caribbean, and Chinese origin, had the worst scores for death and dying and quality of life compared to another group of predominantly white British people.

Older age was found to reduce fears around death in the latter sample, but having more relatives to assist in practical tasks increased fears in three of the four question segments among those in the ethnic group.

People are advised to write a will, which can help to address all the fears they may have about what will happen after their departure.