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Recent immigrants receive different end-of-life care than long-term residents
December 13, 2017
New research co-authored by Drs. Peter Tanuseputro and Doug Manuel found that recent immigrants are more likely to die in the intensive care unit compared to other residents. The researchers studied the records of nearly 1 million Ontarians who died between 2004 and 2015. Of these, 47,500 had immigrated to Canada after 1985. These recent immigrants were more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit (24 percent vs 19 percent of long-standing residents), and were more likely to die there (15.6 percent vs 10 percent). Future research is needed to understand why this difference exists. The researchers suggest that individuals from different cultures may have different values about end-of-life care, or there may be barriers to having their wishes understood by health-care professionals. See JAMA for details.
Authors: Christopher J. Yarnell, Longdi Fu, Doug Manuel, Peter Tanuseputro, Therese Stukel, Ruxandra Pinto, Damon C. Scales, Andreas Laupacis, Robert A. Fowler.
Acknowledgements: Research at The Ottawa Hospital is possible because of the community’s generous support for the hospital. This study was also supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, the Canadian Frailty Network Center of Excellence, the University of Toronto Integrating Challenge Fund, and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. Les données proviennent d’Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada et de l’Institut de recherche en services de santé.
