Dataset Information

Racial variation in end-of-life intensive care use: a race or hospital effect?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine if racial and ethnic variations exist in intensive care (ICU) use during terminal hospitalizations, and, if variations do exist, to determine whether they can be explained by systematic differences in hospital utilization by race/ethnicity.

Data source

1999 hospital discharge data from all nonfederal hospitals in Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.

Design

We identified all terminal admissions (N = 192,705) among adults. We calculated crude rates of ICU use among non-Hispanic whites, blacks, Hispanics, and those with "other" race/ethnicity. We performed multivariable logistic regression on ICU use, with and without adjustment for clustering of patients within hospitals, to calculate adjusted differences in ICU use and by race/ethnicity. We explored both a random-effects (RE) and fixed-effect (FE) specification to adjust for hospital-level clustering.

Data collection

The data were collected by each state.

Principal findings

ICU use during the terminal hospitalization was highest among nonwhites, varying from 64.4 percent among Hispanics to 57.5 percent among whites. Compared to white women, the risk-adjusted odds of ICU use was higher for white men and for nonwhites of both sexes (odds ratios [ORs] and 95 percent confidence intervals: white men = 1.16 (1.14-1.19), black men = 1.35 (1.17-1.56), Hispanic men = 1.52 (1.27-1.82), black women = 1.31 (1.25-1.37), Hispanic women =1.53 (1.43-1.63)). Additional adjustment for within-hospital clustering of patients using the RE model did not change the estimate for white men, but markedly attenuated observed differences for blacks (OR for men =1.12 (0.96-1.31), women = 1.10 (1.03-1.17)) and Hispanics (OR for men =1.19 (1.00-1.42), women = 1.18 (1.09-1.27)). Results from the FE model were similar to the RE model (OR for black men = 1.10 (0.95-1.28), black women = 1.07 (1.02-1.13) Hispanic men = 1.17 (0.96-1.42), and Hispanic women = 1.14 (1.06-1.24))

Conclusions

The majority of observed differences in terminal ICU use among blacks and Hispanics were attributable to their use of hospitals with higher ICU use rather than to racial differences in ICU use within the same hospital.

SUBMITTER: Barnato AE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1955321 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Racial variation in end-of-life intensive care use: a race or hospital effect?

Barnato Amber E AE Berhane Zekarias Z Weissfeld Lisa A LA Chang Chung-Chou H CC Linde-Zwirble Walter T WT Angus Derek C DC

Health services research 20061201 6

<h4>Objective</h4>To determine if racial and ethnic variations exist in intensive care (ICU) use during terminal hospitalizations, and, if variations do exist, to determine whether they can be explained by systematic differences in hospital utilization by race/ethnicity.<h4>Data source</h4>1999 hospital discharge data from all nonfederal hospitals in Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.<h4>Design</h4>We identified all terminal admissions (N = 192,705) among adults. We calc ...[more]

PMID: 17116117

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Project description:IntroductionEnd-of-life-decisions (EOLD) have become an important part of modern intensive care medicine. With increasing therapeutic possibilities on the one hand and many ICU-patients lacking decision making capacity or an advance directive on the other the decision making process is a major challenge on the intensive care unit (ICU). Currently, data are poor on factors associated with EOLD in Germany. In 2009, a new law on advance directives binding physicians and the patient's surrogate decision makers was enacted in Germany. So far it is unknown if this law influenced proceedings of EOLD making on the ICU.MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on all deceased patients (n = 224) in a 22-bed surgical ICU of a German university medical center from 08/2008 to 09/2010. Patient characteristics were compared between patients with an EOLD and those without an EOLD. Patients with an EOLD admitted before and after change of legislation were compared with respect to frequencies of EOLD performance as well as advance directive rates.ResultsIn total, 166 (74.1%) of deaths occurred after an EOLD. Compared to patients without an EOLD, comorbidities, ICU severity scores, and organ replacement technology did not differ significantly. EOLDs were shared within the caregiverteam and with the patient's surrogate decision makers. After law enacting, no differences in EOLD performance or frequency of advance directives (8.9% vs. 9.9%; p = 0.807) were observed except an increase of documentation efforts associated with EOLDs (18.7% vs. 43.6%; p<0.001).ConclusionsIn our ICU EOLD proceedings were performed patient-individually. But EOLDs follow a standard of shared decision making within the caregiverteam and the patient's surrogate decision makers. Enacting a law on advance directives has not affected the decision making-process in EOLDs nor has it affected population's advance care planning habits. However, it has led to increased EOLD-associated documentation on the ICU.Trial registration[corrected] ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01294189.

Project description:ObjectivesAlthough studies have shown regional and interhospital variability in the intensity of end-of-life care, few data are available assessing variability in specific aspects of palliative care in the ICU across hospitals or interhospital variability in family and nurse ratings of this care. Recently, relatively high family satisfaction with ICU end-of-life care has prompted speculation that ICU palliative care has improved over time, but temporal trends have not been documented.Design/settingRetrospective cohort study of consecutive patients dying in the ICU in 13 Seattle-Tacoma-area hospitals between 2003 and 2008.MeasurementsWe examined variability over time and among hospitals in satisfaction and quality of dying assessed by family, quality of dying assessed by nurses, and chart-based indicators of palliative care. We used regression analyses adjusting for patient, family, and nurse characteristics.Main resultsMedical charts were abstracted for 3,065 of 3,246 eligible patients over a 55-month period. There were significant differences between hospitals for all chart-based indicators (p < 0.001), family satisfaction (p < 0.001), family-rated quality of dying (p = 0.03), and nurse-rated quality of dying (p = 0.003). There were few significant changes in these measures over time, although we found a significant increase in pain assessments in the last 24 hours of life (p < 0.001) as well as decreased documentation of family conferences (p < 0.001) and discussion of prognosis (p = 0.020) in the first 72 hours in the ICU.ConclusionsWe found significant interhospital variation in ratings and delivery of palliative care, consistent with prior studies showing variation in intensity of care at the end of life. We did not find evidence of temporal changes in most aspects of palliative care, family satisfaction, or nurse/family ratings of the quality of dying. With the possible exception of pain assessment, there is little evidence that the quality of palliative care has improved over the time period studied.

Dataset Information

Racial variation in end-of-life intensive care use: a race or hospital effect?

Objective

Data source

Design

Data collection

Principal findings

Conclusions

Publications

Racial variation in end-of-life intensive care use: a race or hospital effect?

Similar Datasets

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