End-of-Life Care Preferences: A Promising Target for Reducing Racial Disparities in Terminal Cancer Care

September 11, 2014

(Cornell) – A patient’s race and ethnicity dramatically influence their preferences about the care they receive at the end of their lives, which in turn significantly affect the likelihood they will complete a do-not-resuscitate order (DNR), say a team of researchers led by a Weill Cornell Medical College investigator. In a study published Aug. 21 in Cancer, the researchers found that in a group of 234 patients with terminal cancer, 45 percent of white patients signed a DNR order compared to only 25 percent of black patients and 20 percent of Hispanic patients.