Life-sustaining treatment orders, location of death and co-morbid conditions in decedents with Parkinson's disease

Abstract Introduction End-of-life care in Parkinson's Disease (PD) is poorly described. Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms specify how much life-sustaining treatment to provide. This study aims to better understand end-of-life care in PD using data from the Oregon POLST and Death Registries. Methods Oregon death certificates from the years 2010–2011 were analyzed. Death certificates were matched with forms in the Oregon POLST Registry. Descriptive analyses were performed for both the full PD dataset as well as those with POLST forms. Results There were 1073 (1.8%) decedents with PD listed as a cause of death and 56,961 without. Three hundred and seventy three (35%) decedents with PD had a POLST form. POLST preferences were not significantly different between those with or without PD, however location of death was; hospital (13% PD vs 24% without p