Table 2.
Advance Care Planning and Health Care Preferences among Community-Dwelling Elders (n=220)
| All Participants† n (%) |
Women (n=147) n (%) |
Men (n=73) n (%) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Discussed wishes for end of life care | |||
| No | 69 (31) | 42 (29) | 27 (37) |
| Yes | 151 (69) | 105 (71) | 46 (63) |
| Among those who have discussed wishes, percent who discussed with |
[n=151] | [n=105] | [n=46] |
| Family member | 138 (91) | 96 (91) | 42 (91) |
| Physician/health care provider | 25 (17) | 17 (16) | 8 (17) |
| Attorney | 25 (17) | 15 (14) | 10 (21) |
| Friend | 17 (11) | 15 (14) | 2 (4) |
| Clergy | 5 (3) | 3 (3) | 2 (4) |
| Other | 5 (3) | 5 (5) | 0 (0) |
| Completed advance directives (has health care proxy and living will) |
91 (41) | 60 (41) | 31 (43) |
| Has heath care proxy | 136 (66) | 92 (67) | 44 (62) |
| Has Living Will | 116 (55) | 75 (54) | 41 (57) |
| Preferences for Goals of Care | |||
| Extend life as much as possible | 18 (8) | 8 (5) | 10 (14) |
| Focused on comfort/pain relief | 174 (80) | 122 (84) | 52 (72) |
| Unsure | 26 (12) | 16 (11) | 10 (14) |
| Preference for Place of Death | |||
| Home | 139 (71) | 93 (69) | 46 (75) |
| Hospital | 23 (12) | 16 (12) | 7 (12) |
| Hospice | 14 (7) | 12 (9) | 2 (3) |
| Nursing home | 2 (1) | 2 (2) | 0 (0) |
| Other | 17 (9) | 11 (8) | 6 (10) |
†
There were no statistically significant differences by sex. Number of observations with missing data — health care proxy (n=12); living will (n=8); preference for goals of care (n=2); preference for place of death (n=25).