The Impact of Race on Intensity of Care Provided to Older Adults in the Medical Intensive Care Unit.
African-Americans and Hispanics receive disproportionately less aggressive non-critical treatment for chronic diseases than their Caucasian counterparts. However, when it comes to end-of-life care, minority races are purportedly treated more aggressively in Medical Intensive Care Units (MICU) and are more likely to die there.



We sought to determine the impact of race on the intensity of care provided to older adults in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) using the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-28 (TISS-28) and other MICU interventions.



This is a prospective study of a cohort of 309 patients aged 60 years and older in the MICU. Interventions such as mechanical ventilation, vasopressors, new onset dialysis, feeding tubes, and pulmonary artery catheterization were recorded. Primary outcomes were TISS-28 scores and MICU interventions.



Non-white patients were younger and had more dementia and delirium although there was no difference in ICU mortality. The amount of critical care delivered to non-white and white patients were equivalent at p ≤ 0.05 based on their respective TISS-28 scores. Non-white patients received more renal replacement therapy than white patients.



Our study adds to the growing body of literature demonstrating that the relationship between race, patient preference, and the intensity of care provided in MICUs is multifaceted. Although prior studies have reported that non-white populations often opt for more aggressive care, the similar proportions of non-white and white "full code" patients in this study suggests that this idea is overly simplistic.
Pulmonary & Critical Care Section, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. chadchima@gmail.com.
Chidinma
0000-0003-0730-9871
C
Chima-Melton
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CA, USA.
Terrence E
TE
Murphy
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CA, USA.
Katy L B
KL
Araujo
Pulmonary & Critical Care Section, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, P.O. Box 208057, New Haven, CT, 06520-8057, USA.
Margaret A
MA
Pisani
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003422:Critical Care; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D044469:Racial Groups; D044465:White People
End-of-life; Ethnicity; Healthcare disparities; Medical intensive care unit; Race