| Popis: |
Palliative care has been shown to relieve physical, psychological, and spiritual distress for individuals with serious illnesses. Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) are terminal, debilitating conditions, yet little is known about the use of palliative care in this population. Using Pennsylvania Medicaid claims for dual-eligible beneficiaries over age 65 merged with Medicare enrollment data and restricted to beneficiaries who were dually-eligible and not in a Medicare managed care plan, we identified individuals who: died in 2014 or 2015 and were diagnosed with ADRD at least 12 months prior to death. We used multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between having a diagnosis of ADRD and use of palliative care, controlling for age, gender, race, use of long-term services and supports, region, and comorbidities. We found that people with ADRD were less likely to use any palliative care than people without a diagnosis (OR .74; CI .60 to .91). |
