Resuscitation Preferences Among Patients With Severe Congestive Heart Failure

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Abstract
Background—We sought to describe the resuscitation preferences of patients hospitalized with an exacerbation of severe congestive heart failure, perceptions of those preferences by their physicians, and the stability of the preferences. Methods and Results—Of 936 patients in this study, 215 (23%) explicitly stated that they did not want to be resuscitated. Significant correlates of not wanting to be resuscitated included older age, perception of a worse prognosis, poorer functional status, and higher income. The physician’s perception of the patient’s preference disagreed with the patient’s actual preference in 24% of the cases overall. Only 25% of the patients reported discussing resuscitation preferences with their physician, but discussion of preferences was not significantly associated with higher agreement between the patient and physician. Of the 600 patients who responded to the resuscitation question again 2 months later, 19% had changed their preferences, including 14% of those who initially want...