Black and white older adults’ end-of-life experiences: Does hospice use mitigate racial disparities?

08/16/25 at 03:15 AM

Black and white older adults’ end-of-life experiences: Does hospice use mitigate racial disparities?
The Journals of Gerontology; by Clifford Ross, Brina Ratangee, Emily Schuler, Zheng Lian, Benmun Damul, Deborah Carr, Lucie Kalousová; 7/25
Racial disparities in end-of-life care are well documented, but less is known about how these inequalities shape assessments of death quality. Proxies for Black decedents reported higher perceived death quality than those for White decedents, despite evidence of greater structural disadvantage. However, perceived care concordance was significantly lower among Black decedents. Hospice care was associated with improved perceived death quality for Black decedents but not for Whites. When accounting for socioeconomic and death experience controls, hospice care did not moderate perceived care concordance.

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