Speaking to the Lusa agency, a researcher from the University of Coimbra, Bárbara Gomes, explained that it was the largest study of international trends on the subject, and was also the first to show the impact of the pandemic at a global level in most of the countries studied, with a return to death at home.

The researcher considered that the data from Portugal are “a reflection of a very hospital-centric system” - with healthcare very centered on hospitals - and that they already showed lower percentages of deaths at home than in other countries before the pandemic.

“We were not surprised that, on the one hand, the percentage of deaths at home in Portugal was one of the lowest and that we had also observed a decrease in the percentage of deaths at home, both before and during the pandemic”, said the expert, highlighting that the researchers expected to find some change in the national data, which did not happen.

“We know that we have had an investment in the area of palliative care, both at the level of the SNS [National Health Service] and also through some private initiatives, such as the Humaniza Program [from the 'la Caixa' Foundation] and, therefore, we would aspire to find some change in this sense, which does not seem to have happened”, she explained.

The international study, led by the researcher from the University of Coimbra, and by Silvia Lopes, professor at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (National School of Public Health), analysed data relating to the deaths of more than 100 million people, aged over 18, between 2012 and 2021.

In the 2012-2013 time frame, the percentage of deaths at home in the countries included was 30.1% (27.4% in Portugal), having increased to 30.9% in 2018-2019, before the pandemic, contrary to the which happened in Portugal, which saw the value drop to 24.9%.

In the last period analyzed (2020-2021), during the covid-19 pandemic, the value continued to fall in Portugal (23.4%), behaviour contrary to that of the other countries, where the percentage of deaths at home rose to 32.2 %.

“Especially in the area of home palliative care, [the investment] may not be enough to significantly reach everyone in need”, admitted Bárbara Gomes.