Enteral Feeding in End-Stage Dementia: A Comparison of Religious, Ethnic, and National Differences in Canada and Israel

Abstract

Despite reservations concerning its utility, feeding tube use is reasonably widespread in patients who have reached the stage of severe dementia. Canadian institutions exhibited a lower prevalence of feeding tube use than did Israeli hospitals. Between-country and between-province differences in practice may be explained by some combination of administrative and/or financial incentives, religion, and culture; within-country and within-ethnic group differences may be caused, at least in part, by differing institutional cultures.