End-of-life treatment preferences: a key to reducing ethnic/racial disparities in advance care planning?

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The objective of this study was to identify targets for interventions to reduce end-of-life care disparities among patients with advanced cancer. To do this, the authors evaluated the degree to which end-of-life care values and preferences are associated with advance care planning within racial/ethnic minority groups.

METHODS:

The Coping with Cancer study recruited patients with advanced cancer from outpatient clinics in 5 states from 2002 to 2008. Then, the rates of 1 type of advance care planning-do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders-reported at baseline interviews by 606 patients were investigated. Bivariate tests determined associations among DNR order completion, religious values, and treatment preferences within racial/ethnic groups.

RESULTS:

Non-Latino white patients were significantly more likely to have a DNR order (45%) than black (25%) and Latino (20%) patients (P<.001). A preference against specific life-prolonging treatment (eg, chemotherapy, ventilation) was the only factor significantly associated with higher DNR order likelihood in each group, with non-Latino white patients more likely than Latino or black patients to express preferences against life-prolonging care (eg, 26% of non-Latino white patients, 46% of black patients, and 41% of Latino patients wanted a feeding tube if it would extend life for 1 more day; P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS:

Preferences against life-prolonging care differ dramatically by race/ethnicity, but they have a uniform significant association with DNR order completion rates across racial/ethnic groups of patients with advanced cancer. Advance care planning interventions that target preferences associated with DNR orders across racial/ethnic groups may reach a broad patient population and reduce end-of-life care disparities.

• Authors: Melissa M Garrido, Shannon T Harrington, Holly G Prigerson
• Journal: Cancer (Cancer) Vol. 120 Issue 24 Pg. 3981-6 (Dec 15 2014) ISSN: 1097-0142 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25145489 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.)
• Copyright: © 2014 American Cancer Society.

Topics

• Adult
• Advance Care Planning (statistics & numerical data)
• Aged
• Attitude to Death
• Ethnicity (statistics & numerical data)
• Female
• Healthcare Disparities (ethnology, statistics & numerical data)
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasms (epidemiology, psychology, therapy)
• Patient Preference (ethnology)
• Racial Groups (statistics & numerical data)
• Terminal Care (statistics & numerical data)