"Withholding Treatment" is a descriptor in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus,
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Descriptors are arranged in a hierarchical structure,
which enables searching at various levels of specificity.
Withholding or withdrawal of a particular treatment or treatments, often (but not necessarily) life-prolonging treatment, from a patient or from a research subject as part of a research protocol. The concept is differentiated from REFUSAL TO TREAT, where the emphasis is on the health professional's or health facility's refusal to treat a patient or group of patients when the patient or the patient's representative requests treatment. Withholding of life-prolonging treatment is usually indexed only with EUTHANASIA, PASSIVE, unless the distinction between withholding and withdrawing treatment, or the issue of withholding palliative rather than curative treatment, is discussed.
| Descriptor ID |
D028761
|
| MeSH Number(s) |
E02.760.952 N02.421.585.952
|
| Concept/Terms |
Withholding Treatment- Withholding Treatment
- Treatment, Withholding
- Treatments, Withholding
- Withholding Treatments
- Cessation of Treatment
- Treatment Cessation
- Treatment Cessations
Withdrawing Treatment- Withdrawing Treatment
- Treatment, Withdrawing
- Treatments, Withdrawing
- Withdrawing Treatments
|
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Withholding Treatment".
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Withholding Treatment".
This graph shows the total number of publications written about "Withholding Treatment" by people in this website by year, and whether "Withholding Treatment" was a major or minor topic of these publications.
To see the data from this visualization as text,
click here.
| Year | Major Topic | Minor Topic | Total |
|---|
| 1996 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 1997 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 1998 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 1999 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2000 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2002 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2003 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2005 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2006 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2007 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2008 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2009 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2010 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2011 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2012 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2013 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 2014 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 2016 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 2017 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2019 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 2020 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2021 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 2023 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2025 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2026 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
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Below are the most recent publications written about "Withholding Treatment" by people in Profiles.
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Futility and Termination of Resuscitation Variation for Pediatric Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Pediatrics. 2026 Sep 01; 158(3).
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Pediatric Ethics Consultations: Then and Now. J Clin Ethics. 2026; 37(3):268-275.
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Withdrawal of aspirin in patients with left ventricular assist device treated with vitamin K antagonists: impact of anticoagulation quality in the randomized ARIES-HM3 trial. Eur Heart J. 2026 Feb 23; 47(8):942-952.
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New Eczematous Eruption in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease Who Stop Janus Kinase Inhibitors. Am J Gastroenterol. 2026 01 01; 121(1):268-273.
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Continuation of Potentially Inappropriate Life-Sustaining Therapies: Provider Perspectives. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2025 Aug; 70(2):e137-e143.
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Recovery Potential in Patients After Cardiac Arrest Who Die After Limitations or Withdrawal of Life Support. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 03 03; 8(3):e251714.
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Discontinuation of maintenance therapy in multiple myeloma guided by multimodal measurable residual disease negativity (MRD2STOP). Blood Cancer J. 2024 10 07; 14(1):170.
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End of life care in a level IV outborn neonatal intensive care unit. J Perinatol. 2024 07; 44(7):1022-1028.
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Hospital Policy Variation in Addressing Decisions to Withhold and Withdraw Life-Sustaining Treatment. Chest. 2024 04; 165(4):950-958.
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End-of-life practices: An ethical framework for clinicians. Anaesth Crit Care Pain Med. 2023 08; 42(4):101216.