End-of-Life Care for Older Adults With Dementia by Race and Ethnicity and Physicians' Role

Evidence is limited regarding whether end-of-life care for individuals with dementia varies by race and ethnicity, and whether observed variations can be explained by differences in the physicians providing their care.

To evaluate end-of-life care among individuals with dementia across racial and ethnic groups, and to investigate whether care variations are explained by differences in treating physicians.

This cohort study used national, population-based claims data from a 20% random sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 66 years or older with a diagnosis of dementia who died between 2016 and 2019. Data were analyzed from January 2024 to June 2025.

Emergency department, hospital, and intensive care unit use, mechanical ventilation or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and feeding tube placement in last 30 days of life; death in acute care hospital; hospice use and palliative care counseling in last 180 days of life; and any billed advance care planning before death.

Among 259 945 decedents with dementia (mean [SD] age, 85.8 [8.0] years; 60.4% female), 8.3% were non-Hispanic Black, 4.4% were Hispanic, and 87.3% were non-Hispanic White. Compared with non-Hispanic White decedents, non-Hispanic Black decedents were more likely to receive emergency department (difference, 5.7 percentage points [pp]; 95% CI, 5.0-6.4 pp), hospital (difference, 4.0 pp; 95% CI, 3.3-4.7 pp), intensive care unit (difference, 4.3 pp; 95% CI, 3.7-4.9 pp), mechanical ventilation or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (difference, 3.8 pp; 95% CI, 3.3-4.3 pp), and feeding tube placement (difference, 1.8 pp; 95% CI, 1.5-2.1 pp) care, as well as die in a hospital (difference, 3.5 pp; 95% CI, 2.9-4.1 pp). Non-Hispanic Black decedents were less likely to use hospice (difference, -6.1 pp; 95% CI, -6.8 to -5.4 pp) and more likely to receive palliative care counseling (difference, 3.2 pp; 95% CI, 2.6-3.9 pp) and billed advance care planning (difference, 1.8 pp; 95% CI, 1.2-2.3 pp) than non-Hispanic White decedents. Similar patterns were observed among Hispanic decedents. Variations in end-of-life care remained qualitatively unchanged when comparing decedents treated by the same physician.

Findings from this cohort study suggest that non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic decedents with dementia received more intensive end-of-life care despite higher rates of billed advance care planning and palliative care counseling than non-Hispanic White decedents. Observed racial and ethnic variations were not explained by differences in the physicians treating them.