Abstract Details

Title The Influence of Sex on Hospice Care Preferences Among Persons with Parkinson’s Disease

Topic Movement Disorders

Presentation(s) P7 - Poster Session 7 (5:00 PM-6:00 PM)

Poster/Presentation
Number 5-018

Objective Based on the growing prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the importance of aligning end-of-life (EoL) care with patient preferences, we aimed to determine attitudes toward EoL care among persons with PD using the 27-item Attitudes of Older People to End-of-Life Issues (AOELI) questionnaire.

Background PD is currently the 14th leading cause of death in the United States (US). In the EoL period, the majority of persons with PD in the US are hospitalized with high rates of intensive care, in-hospital death, and low rates of discharge to hospice care. Although these outcomes are considered markers of inappropriate EoL care quality and are often incongruent with patient care preferences, little is known about the influence of sex on attitudes toward hospice care.

Design/Methods Persons with PD aged 41-89 years completed the AOELI questionnaire after routine clinic visits at a movement disorders center. Questions were scored using a 5-point Likert scale. Preferred care was based on the selection of a 4 (agree) or 5 (strongly agree) in response to 3 questions on home, hospice, or hospital-based care. Individual responses were compared between men and women using Chi-square analyses.

Results A total of 200 participants (110 men, 90 women, 54 non-White participants) completed the AOELI questionnaire. When asked about care preferences in the event of a serious illness with no hope of recovery, all participants preferred home care (76%) and hospice care (77%) to hospital-based care (17% and 14%, respectively). Women were also more likely than men (59% vs. 39%) to prefer hospice over routine home care (X2=8.72, p=.01).

Conclusions While most persons with PD prefer to avoid hospitalization in the EoL period, hospice care preferences differ between men and women. These data suggest that aggressive EoL care is likely undesirable and current EoL care practices should be individualized.

Authors/Disclosures
Whitley W. Aamodt, MD (University of Pennsylvania) PRESENTER	Dr. Aamodt has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Neurology.
Lynn Eickholt	Ms. Eickholt has nothing to disclose.
Nabila Dahodwala, MD, FAAN (Parkinson's disease and Movement Disorders Center)	Dr. Dahodwala has received personal compensation in the range of $0-$499 for serving as a Consultant for Genetech. Dr. Dahodwala has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Consultant for Mediflix. Dr. Dahodwala has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving on a Scientific Advisory or Data Safety Monitoring board for Acadia. Dr. Dahodwala has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving as an Expert Witness for Post and Schell. Dr. Dahodwala has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as an Expert Witness for O'Brien & Ryan, LLP. Dr. Dahodwala has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as an Expert Witness for MotleyRice. The institution of Dr. Dahodwala has received research support from AbbVie. The institution of Dr. Dahodwala has received research support from Medtronic.

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