Table 2.
Age Group Comparisons of Baseline Patient Treatment Preferences (n = 396)
| |
Unadjusted descriptive statistics |
Adjusted group comparisons¶ |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline variables | Total sample n = 396 | Older aged (≥65) n = 126 | Middle-aged (45–64) n = 214 | Younger aged (20–44) n = 56 | Older aged vs middle-aged | Middle-aged vs younger aged | Older aged vs younger aged | |||||||
| Pt Treatment Preference‡ | n | (%) | n | (%) | n | (%) | n | (%) | OR | (CI) | OR | (CI) | OR | (CI) |
| Ventilator | 86 | (24.2) | 23 | (20.7) | 42 | (21.8) | 21 | (40.4) | 0.93 | (0.42-1.65) | 0.41 | (0.21-0.79) | 0.39 | (0.19-0.79) |
| Chemo 1 wk before death | 194 | (55.0) | 57 | (52.3) | 103 | (53.7) | 34 | (65.4) | 1.29 | (0.75-2.22) | 0.75 | (0.37-1.53) | 0.78 | (0.37-1.66) |
| Extend life§ | 95 | (29.1) | 29 | (27.9) | 43 | (24.6) | 23 | (47.9) | 1.34 | (0.74-2.41) | 0.32 | (0.16-0.64) | 0.49 | (0.23-1.02) |
| Against ICU death | 131 | (37.1) | 46 | (42.2) | 70 | (36.3) | 15 | (29.4) | 0.85 | (0.48-1.51) | 1.18 | (0.57-2.41) | 0.95 | (0.41-2.21) |
| Pt Completed DNR Order | 149 | (33.2) | 51 | (46.0) | 79 | (40.9) | 19 | (36.5) | 1.51 | (0.67-1.98) | 1.08 | (0.56-2.08) | 0.83 | (0.34-2.02) |
| Tell Life Expectancy | 262 | (72.8) | 81 | (72.3) | 148 | (75.5) | 33 | (63.5) | 0.82 | (0.49-1.40) | 1.99 | (1.00-3.95) | 1.38 | (0.67-2.85) |
Pt-Patient; psych-psychological; wk-week; chemo-chemotherapy; DNR-Do Not Resuscitate; ICU- Intensive Care Unit; TI –Terminal Illness.
All values in bold and italicized are at least p < .05.
Patients were asked a series of questions regarding their preferences for treatment at the end of life. Desiring the use of a ventilator to extend life for any period of time was recorded as preferring aggressive care. Desiring non palliative chemotherapy to extend life for one week or less was considered preference for aggressive care. Against ICU death was a dichotomous measuring of patients' perception of dying in an ICU setting as a bad death. Tell Life Expectancy assessed patients' desire to know exactly when they would die if that information was available.
Complete data on patient preference to extend life (N = 327) fell short of the total sample size (N = 396). Extend life (If you could choose, would you prefer a course of treatment that focused on extending life as much as possible, even if it meant more pain and discomfort)
Adjustments were made by running all Table 1 variables as possible confounders using backwards selection.