Health and Well-Being in the Year before Death: The Association with Quality of Life and Care at the End-of-Life

Objective:We examined whether older adults' health and well-being during their final year of life predicts end-of-life (EOL) quality of life (QOL) and quality of care (QOC).Methods:Using data from deceased participants (n= 1125) in the 2011-2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study, we performed latent class analysis to identify profiles of health and well-being, and we examined the association between these classes and EOL QOL and QOC.Results:Four classes were identified: healthy/happy (20%), frail/happy (37%), cognitively impaired/moderately distressed (27%), and highly impaired/highly distressed (16%). Persons in the highly impaired/highly distressed class showed a poorer QOL at the EOL, whereas those in the healthy/happy class reported a lower level of QOC at the EOL.Discussion:The benefits of maintaining health and well-being often carry forward to EOL. Older adults with high impairment and distress merit greater attention such as assuring care and advance care plans.