Do-not-resuscitate orders and readmission among elderly patients with heart failure in Pennsylvania: An observational study, 2011 - 2014

•Among 107,806 patients aged 65 and older with a primary diagnosis of HF, 20.9% were readmitted within 30 days.•Patients with HF patients were more likely to have a DNR order if they were older in age, were white non-Hispanic females, and were on medicare.•After controlling for important personal covariates, elderly patients with HF with a DNR were less likely than patients with HF without a DNR to be readmitted to the hospital (OR 0.85, 95% CI: 0.80–0.91, p<0.001).