Key research findings
- Compared with whites, black and Hispanic subjects were less likely to have an advance care plan and acknowledge that they were terminally ill, and more likely to consider themselves very religious and have a preference for life-prolonging care.
- In adjusted analysis, terminal illness acknowledgment, religiousness, and treatment preferences did not explain observed differences by race and ethnicity.
- Future studies should continue the search for factors that might explain differences by race and ethnicity in advance care planning and end-of-life care, such as limited health literacy and distrust of the healthcare system.
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh showed that when faced with a terminal illness, African-American seniors were two times more likely than whites to say they would want life-prolonging treatments. The study, appearing in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, interviewed and surveyed 2,800 Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older.
