ArticleAnnals of family medicine2018
Older Adults' Preferences for Discussing Long-Term Life Expectancy: Results From a National Survey.
Article in Annals of family medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Patient Preferences for Discussing Life Expectancy: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of a Mammography Screening Decision Aid for Women 75 Years and Older: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2020Trial
- Physician Preferences Regarding Integration of Life Expectancy in Prostate Cancer Management.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Older adults' interest and concerns about life expectancy information for cancer screening decisions: Results from the National Poll on Healthy Aging.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Exploring perceptions of online calculators for identifying community-dwelling older people at risk of dying: A qualitative study.PEC innovation · 2024Article
- A National Survey of Physicians' Views on the Importance and Implementation of Deintensifying Diabetes Medications.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
- Perceived Barriers Among Clinicians and Older Adults Aged 65 and Older Regarding Use of Life Expectancy to Inform Cancer Screening: A Narrative Review and Comparison.Medical care research and review : MCRR · 2023Review
- Different Types of Patient Health Information Associated With Physician Decision-making Regarding Cancer Screening Cessation for Older Adults.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- A Qualitative Study of Perspectives of Older Adults on Deintensifying Diabetes Medications.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
- Delivering Prognostic News to Older People with Chronic Disease: What Format Preference and Level of Involvement in Decision Making? A Hospital Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Preferences for Discussing Life Expectancy: a Cross-sectional Survey Among Geriatric Outpatients in Denmark.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Article
- Association between prognostic awareness and quality of life in patients with advanced cancer.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Strategies for discussing long-term prognosis when deciding on cancer screening for adults over age 75.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2022Article
- Life expectancy estimates based on comorbidities and frailty to inform preventive care.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2022Article
- Patterns of Communication About Serious Illness in the Years, Months, and Days before Death.Palliative medicine reports · 2022Article
- Acceptability of a patient decision aid for women aged 70 and older with stage I, estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.Journal of geriatric oncology · 2021Article
- Review
- Discussing Prognosis with Empathy to Cancer Patients.Current oncology reports · 2021Review
- Factors Affecting the Initial Engagement of Older Adults in the Use of Interactive Technology.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Dying to know: prognosis communication in heart failure.ESC heart failure · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeClinical practice guidelines recommend incorporating long-term life expectancy to inform a number of decisions in primary care. We aimed to examine older adults' preferences for discussing life expectancy in a national sample.
methodsWe invited 1,272 older adults (aged 65 or older) from a national, probability-based online panel to participate in 2016. We presented a hypothetical patient with limited life expectancy who was not imminently dying. We asked participants if they were that patient, whether they would like to talk with the doctor about how long they may live, whether it was acceptable for the doctor to offer this discussion, whether they want the doctor to discuss life expectancy with family or friends, and when it should be discussed.
resultsThe 878 participants (69.0% participation rate) had a mean age of 73.4 years. The majority, 59.4%, did not want to discuss how long they might live in the presented scenario. Within this group, 59.9% also did not think that the doctor should offer the discussion, and 87.7% also did not want the doctor to discuss life expectancy with family or friends. Fully 55.8% wanted to discuss life expectancy only if it were less than 2 years. Factors positively associated with wanting to have the discussion included higher educational level, believing that doctors can accurately predict life expectancy, and past experience with either a life-threatening illness or having discussed life expectancy of a loved one. Reporting that religion is important was negatively associated.
conclusionsThe majority of older adults did not wish to discuss life expectancy when we depicted a hypothetical patient with limited life expectancy. Many also did not want to be offered discussion, raising a dilemma for how clinicians may identify patients' preferences regarding this sensitive topic.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.