Table 2. Unadjusted Hospice Use, Emergency Department Visits, and Hospitalizations in the Last 180 Days of Life and End-of-Life Care Preferences Among Dementia Decedents by Race and Ethnicity.
| End-of-life service | Respondents, No. (%) | P value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (N = 5058) | Non-Hispanic White (n = 3892) | Non-Hispanic Black (n = 809) | Hispanic (n = 357) | ||
| Hospice care | |||||
| Any hospice enrollment | 2429 (48.0) | 1967 (50.5) | 309 (38.2) | 153 (42.9) | <.001 |
| Total hospice days, mean (SD), da | 49.9 (61.3) | 50.4 (61.8) | 50.1 (59.9) | 43.5 (57.4) | .41 |
| Hospice enrollment only during the last 7 d of lifea | 735 (30.3) | 606 (30.8) | 84 (27.2) | 45 (29.4) | .42 |
| Hospice enrollment only during the last 3 d of lifea | 334 (13.8) | 269 (13.7) | 43 (13.9) | 22 (14.4) | .97 |
| ED visits | |||||
| Any visit after hospice enrollment | 269 (11.1) | 191 (9.7) | 56 (18.1) | 22 (14.4) | <.001 |
| Any visit | 3672 (72.6) | 2753 (70.7) | 645 (79.7) | 274 (76.8) | <.001 |
| Total No. of outpatient visits, mean (SD)a | 2.5 (2.1) | 2.5 (2.0) | 2.8 (2.2) | 2.4 (2.1) | .06 |
| Total No. of inpatient visits, mean (SD)a | 1.8 (1.2) | 1.7 (1.1) | 2.2 (1.4) | 1.9 (1.1) | <.001 |
| Hospitalization | |||||
| Any hospitalization after hospice enrollment | 184 (7.6) | 119 (6.1) | 48 (15.5) | 17 (11.1) | <.001 |
| Any hospitalization | 3530 (69.8) | 2630 (67.6) | 625 (77.3) | 275 (77.0) | <.001 |
| Total No. of hospitalizations, mean (SD)a | 2.1 (1.4) | 2.0 (1.3) | 2.4 (1.5) | 2.3 (1.5) | <.001 |
| Length of stay, mean (SD), da | 8.5 (7.0) | 8.0 (6.6) | 10.0 (8.5) | 9.6 (6.6) | <.001 |
| Advance care planning (4286 respondents) | 2083 (48.6) | 1871 (57.2) | 146 (20.7) | 66 (21.4) | NA |
| All care possible to prolong life (2061 respondents) | 114 (5.5) | 72 (3.9) | 30 (20.8) | 12 (18.5) | NA |
| Limited care (2045 respondents) | 1873 (91.6) | 1708 (92.8) | 114 (80.9) | 51 (79.7) | NA |
| Any treatment withheld (2001 respondents) | 1576 (78.8) | 1448 (80.5) | 87 (62.1) | 41 (66.1) | NA |
| Comfortable and pain free but forego extensive measures to prolong life (2041 respondents) | 1886 (92.4) | 1712 (93.1) | 120 (87.0) | 54 (83.1) | NA |
Abbreviation: ED, emergency department.
These are unadjusted, descriptive statistics. P values were based on χ2 tests (categorical variables) and ANOVA tests (continuous variables).
a
Among users.