Characterizing patients issued DNR orders who are ultimately discharged alive: a retrospective observational study in Japan.

By focusing on those with DNR orders who were ultimately discharged alive, we discovered that these patients were likely to have DNR orders issued early after admission, and that they were more likely to be elderly, female, non-cancer patients, or those in internal medicine departments. Further examination of these data may help to elucidate why these particular DNR-related characteristics (including socio-economic and cultural factors) are evident in patients who end up being discharged alive.