Do Not Attempt Resuscitation Order Rates in Hospitalized Patients With Heart Failure, Acute Myocardial Infarction, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Pneumonia

Abstract

Background Descriptions of do not attempt resuscitation (DNAR) orders in heart failure (HF) are limited. We describe use of DNAR orders in HF hospitalizations relative to other common conditions, focusing on race. Methods and Results This was a retrospective study of all adult hospitalizations for HF, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pneumonia from 2010 to 2016 using the California State Inpatient Dataset. Using a hierarchical multivariable logistic regression model with random effects for the hospital, we identified factors associated with DNAR orders for each condition. For racial variation, hospitals were divided into quintiles based on proportion of Black patients cared for. Our cohort comprised 399 816 HF, 190 802 AMI, 192 640 COPD, and 269 262 pneumonia hospitalizations. DNAR orders were most prevalent in HF (11.9%), followed by pneumonia (11.1%), COPD (7.9%), and AMI (7.1%). Prevalence of DNAR orders did not change from 2010 to 2016 for each condition. For all conditions, DNAR orders were more common in elderly people, women, and White people with significant site‐level variation across 472 hospitals. For HF and COPD, hospitalizations at sites that cared for a higher proportion of Black patients were less likely associated with DNAR orders. For AMI and pneumonia, conditions such as dementia and malignancy were strongly associated with DNAR orders. Conclusions DNAR orders were present in 12% of HF hospitalizations, similar to pneumonia but higher than AMI and COPD. For HF, we noted significant variability across sites when stratified by proportion of Black patients cared for, suggesting geographic and racial differences in end‐of‐life care.