A recent study published in Health Affairs suggests the number of U.S. adults with official documentation stating their preferences for end-of-life care is relatively low.
For the study, researchers examined 150 articles published between 2011 and 2016. These articles include 795,909 people as well as data collected between 2000 and 2015. Nearly half of the analyzed articles identified completion proportions for a living will, while 63 identified completion proportions for a healthcare power of attorney. Nearly 100 of the analyzed articles reported proportions for advance directives that were not identified.
The study found nearly 37 percent of the people in the 150 analyzed articles had completed an advance directive, including more than 29 percent with living wills. Researchers said these proportions did not change much over the years examined, and similar proportions of chronically ill patients (38.2 percent) and healthy adults (32.7 percent) had completed advance directives.
"The findings provide benchmarks for gauging future policies and practices designed to motivate completion of advance directives, particularly among those people most likely to benefit from having these documents on record," the researchers conclude.