End of Life Care and Do Not Resuscitate Orders: How Much Does Age Influence Decision Making? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

With population aging, “do not resuscitate” (DNAR) decisions, pertaining to the appropriateness of attempting resuscitation following a cardiac arrest, are becoming commoner. It is unclear from the literature whether using age to make these decisions represents “ageism.” We undertook a systematic review of the literature using CINAHL, Medline, and the Cochrane database to investigate the relationship between age and DNAR. All 10 studies fulfilling our inclusion criteria found that “do not attempt resuscitation” orders were more prevalent in older patients; eight demonstrated that this was independent of other mediating factors such as illness severity and likely outcome. In studies comparing age groups, the adjusted odds of having a DNAR order were greater in patients aged 75 to 84 and ≥85 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.25, 2.33] and 2.96, 95% CI = [2.34, 3.74], respectively), compared with those <65 years. In studies treating age as a continuous variable, there was no significant increase in the use of DNAR with age (AOR 0.98, 95% CI = [0.84, 1.15]). In conclusion, age increases the use of “do not resuscitate” orders, but more research is needed to determine whether this represents “ageism.”