Table 2.
Surrogate and Patient Characteristics*
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Surrogates (n = 80) | |
|
| |
| Mean age (SD), y | 53.8 (14.3) |
|
| |
| Sex | |
|
| |
| Male | 46 (58) |
|
| |
| Female | 34 (42) |
| Race or ethnicity† | |
|
| |
| Caucasian or white | 39 (48.8) |
|
| |
| African American or black | 16 (20) |
|
| |
| Hispanic or Latino | 13 (16.3) |
|
| |
| Asian | 7 (8.6) |
|
| |
| Native American | 3 (3.8) |
|
| |
| Other/undocumented | 3 (3.8) |
|
| |
| Pacific Islander | 1 (1.3) |
|
| |
| Relationship to patient | |
| Spouse/partner | 23 (28.8) |
|
| |
| Sibling | 16 (20) |
|
| |
| Child | 15 (18.8) |
|
| |
| Parent | 7 (8.8) |
|
| |
| Other relative | 7 (8.8) |
|
| |
| Other | 7 (8.8) |
|
| |
| Friend | 5 (6.3) |
| Level of education | |
|
| |
| 8th grade or less | 0 (0) |
|
| |
| Some high school | 6 (7.5) |
|
| |
| High school diploma or GED | 20 (25) |
|
| |
| Some college or trade school | 26 (32.5) |
|
| |
| 4-year college degree | 13 (16.3) |
|
| |
| Graduate or professional school | 15 (18.8) |
| Primary language‡ | |
|
| |
| English | 75 (93.7) |
|
| |
| Spanish | 8 (10) |
|
| |
| Other | 7 (9) |
|
| |
| Religious preference | |
| Christian | 25 (31.3) |
|
| |
| Protestant | 20 (25) |
|
| |
| Catholic | 12 (15) |
|
| |
| No religious affiliation | 10 (12.5) |
|
| |
| Other | 7 (8.8) |
|
| |
| Declined response | 6 (7.5) |
|
| |
| Importance of religion in everyday life§ | |
| Declined response | 8 (10) |
|
| |
| Not at all important | 4 (5) |
|
| |
| Not too important | 12 (15) |
|
| |
| Fairly important | 26 (32.5) |
|
| |
| Very important | 30 (37.5) |
| Patients (n = 61) | |
| Mean age (SD), y | 66.3 (18.2) |
| Sex | |
|
| |
| Male | 34 (56) |
|
| |
| Female | 17 (44) |
|
| |
| Admitting diagnosis | |
|
| |
| Heart failure/myocardial infarction | 19 (31) |
|
| |
| Intracranial aneurysm/hemorrhage | 7 (11) |
|
| |
| Sepsis/infection | 7 (11) |
|
| |
| Respiratory failure | 7 (11) |
|
| |
| Trauma | 5 (8) |
|
| |
| Renal failure | 5 (8) |
|
| |
| Gastrointestinal bleeding | 5 (8) |
|
| |
| Other | 6 (10) |
|
| |
| Race or ethnicity† | |
|
| |
| Caucasian or white | 30 (49) |
|
| |
| African American or black | 12 (20) |
|
| |
| Hispanic or Latino | 10 (16) |
|
| |
| Asian | 3 (5) |
|
| |
| Native American | 3 (5) |
|
| |
| Pacific Islander | 2 (3) |
|
| |
| Other/undocumented | 1 (2) |
*
Unless otherwise noted, values are numbers (percentages).
†
Sums are greater than the total surrogates or patients because some individuals identified with more than 1 race/ethnicity.
‡
Sums are greater than the total surrogates or patients because some individuals cited more than 1 primary language.
§
Surrogates’ religiosity was assessed with the following question, answered on a 4-point Likert scale: How important are religious or spiritual beliefs in your everyday life?