Wisconsin Longitudinal Study: Spousal End-of-Life Preference Accuracy Among Older Adults

Sara M. Moorman from the University of Wisconsin–Madison analyzed data from the 2004 wave of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The dataset examines how accurately married couples in their mid-60s report each other's end-of-life treatment preferences under scenarios of cognitive impairment and physical pain. Surrogates incorrectly reported their spouses' preferences 13% and 26% of the time in these respective scenarios.

Use Cases

• Modeling surrogate reporting errors based on gender, DPAHC status, and marital discussions mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing the projection of personal preferences onto spouses' reported preferences.
• Investigating the relationship between spousal health status and accuracy in end-of-life preference reporting.

Strengths

• Specific error rates of 13% and 26% are reported for two distinct end-of-life scenarios.
• Data is drawn from a named longitudinal study (Wisconsin Longitudinal Study) with a specific wave (2004).
• Analysis includes multiple factors: surrogate gender, DPAHC status, marital discussions, and spousal health status.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

Collection Method

Survey data from married couples, analyzed with structural equation models.

Time Range

2004 wave

Geography

Wisconsin, United States (likely)