Physicians’ attitudes and experiences about withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatments in pediatrics: a systematic review of quantitative evidence

Table 8 Statistical correlations between physicians’ past experiences with decision-making and physician-related factors^a

Physician-Related Factors
	Discussions/Communications with parents/patients	Dealing with ethically sensitive issues				Dealing with DNAR
Publication	Country’s economic Status^b	Professional specialty	Professional status	Country/Region	Country’s economic status	Professional status
Sanchez Varela et al. (2015) [51]	Feel competent in delivering bad news to families: p = 0.0062	—	—	—	Decisions not to use LST result in staff spending less time with a patient and their family: p = 0.001; Discontinue care too soon: p = 0.0006	—
Aljethaily et al. (2020) [56]	—	—	—	—	—	Familiar with DNAR: p = 0.02; Be clear to DNAR policy: p = 0.009; Be clear to DNAR procedure: p = 0.003; Legally protected: p = 0.006
Boer et al. (2022) [59]	—	Withhold/Withdraw LST: p < 0.001	Face ethical dilemmas concerning withholding/withdrawing LST: p = 0.001; Difficulties in solving ethical dilemmas concerning disagreements of withholding/withdrawing LST: p = 0.020; Affected by ethical dilemmas: p = 0.013; Affected by withholding/withdrawing LST: p = 0.045	Withhold/Withdraw LST: p = 0.026	—	—

NS No statistical correlation found; —, not tested
^aStatistical correlations between specialty and attitudes were tested and reported
^bLow-, middle-, or high-income countries. See Sanchez Varela et al. [51]

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