Medical information and surrogate designation: results of a prospective study in elderly hospitalised patients

To determine the preferences of French elderly inpatients concerning medical information and surrogate designation in life-threatening situations.

Intention-to-act questionnaire was completed by two geriatricians during a patient interview in the week following admission in three geriatric units in France. The participants were elderly patients (> or =70 years) with adequate cognitive performance for decision making as assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination. The impact of socio-demographic factors, level of confidence in medical care, cognitive or physical disability on surrogate designation and amount of medical information expected were measured.

Impact of socio-demographic factors, level of confidence in medical care, cognitive or physical disability on surrogate designation and amount of medical information expected.

426 consecutive elderly patients were recruited. 32.6% wanted to receive complete information about their care and 77% declared they would want to be informed if they were in a life-threatening situation. 4.5% reported they would not want any medical information. A family member was designated as surrogate by 73% of the patients. In 28%, a second surrogate was also designated, usually the family physician (22%) or a member of the hospital medical staff (10%). Polytomous logistic regression analysis was used to assess determinants of the amount of information expected and social and medical parameters. MMSE score, the presence of physical disability, a low level of confidence in medicine and the presence of children were identified as independent determinants of a high level of information expectation.

Elderly hospitalised patients expressed a strong desire to receive extensive information and were willing to designate a surrogate in a life-threatening situation. The surrogate was usually a family member alone or with another person, usually a practitioner.