TY - JOUR T1 - Racial and Ethnic Differences in Informal and Formal Advance Care Planning Among U.S. Older Adults. JF - Journal of Aging and Health Y1 - Forthcoming A1 - Lenko, Rachel A1 - Voepel-Lewis, Terri A1 - Robinson-Lane, Sheria G A1 - Silveira, Maria J A1 - Hoffman, Geoffrey J KW - Advance care planning KW - Advance directives KW - end of life KW - Healthcare Disparities KW - race and ethnicity AB -

OBJECTIVE: To examine advance care planning (ACP) trends among an increasingly diverse aging population, we compared informal and formal ACP use by race/ethnicity among U.S. older adults (≤65 years).

METHODS: We used Health and Retirement Study data (2012-2018) to assess relationships between race/ethnicity and ACP type (i.e., no ACP, informal ACP only, formal ACP only, or both ACP types). We reported adjusted risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS: Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic respondents were 1.77 (1.60, 1.96) and 1.76 (1.55, 1.99) times as likely, respectively, to report no ACP compared to non-Hispanic White respondents. Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic respondents were 0.74 (0.71, 0.78) and 0.74 (0.69, 0.80) times as likely, respectively, to report using both ACP types as non-Hispanic White respondents.

DISCUSSION: Racial/ethnic differences in ACP persist after controlling for a variety of barriers to and facilitators of ACP which may contribute to disparities in end-of-life care.

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