Mechanical ventilation, intubation and other intensive treatments are prescribed more often to racial and ethnic minorities, a Rutgers study finds
More than half of Medicare beneficiaries are diagnosed with dementia during their lifetime, and of those diagnosed who receive intensive end-of-life care - such as mechanical ventilation, intubation, feeding tube initiation and new dialysis - most are from racial and ethnic minority groups, according to a Rutgers study.
Researchers have known that race and ethnicity play a role in the intensity of medical care at the end of life, but the difference is more pronounced among individuals with dementia, the researchers found.
"Dementia appears to have a multiplicative effect," said Elizabeth Luth, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Rutgers and lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
