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In End of Life, Blacks More Likely to Opt for Life-Sustaining MeasuresWhen faced with a terminal illness, black seniors were two times more likely than whites to say they would want life-prolonging treatments, according to a University of Pittsburgh study available online and in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.The study, led by Amber E. Barnato, MD, MPH, an associate professor of medical, clinical, and translational science and health policy, University of Pittsburgh, was based on interviews and surveys with more than 2,800 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older, making it the largest nationally representative sample of U.S. seniors' end-of-life treatment preferences. Overall, the majority of Medicare beneficiaries surveyed preferred not to die in a hospital or to receive life-sustaining measures at the end of life. During interviews, study respondents were asked about their treatment preferences in the event they were diagnosed with a terminal illness and had less than a year to live. More blacks (18%) than whites (8%) reported that they would prefer to die in a hospital. Blacks (28%) also were more likely than whites (15%) to report that they would opt for life-prolonging drugs, even if the treatment made them feel worse all of the time. Only 49% of blacks compared with 74% of whites responded that they would want potentially life-shortening palliative drugs (for pain and comfort only). Lastly, when asked whether they would opt for mechanical ventilation to extend their lives for a week, 24% of blacks said they would, compared with 13% of whites. When mechanical ventilation would extend life by one month, this percentage rose to 36% in blacks, compared with 21% in whites. Although the study looked at differences in treatment preferences by race, Barnato cautions it should not be viewed as an invitation to generalize. "As doctors, we should ask each patient and family about their goals of treatment, then offer the treatments that meet those goals, rather than making assumptions about treatment preferences based on race," she says. — Source: University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences |
   
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