Dialysis in the Elderly and Impact of Institutionalization in the United States Renal Data System

BACKGROUND

We hypothesized that in the very elderly dialysis patients in the United States, institutionalization in nursing homes would increase mortality in addition to age alone.

METHODS

Incident dialysis patients from 2001 to 2008 above the age of 70 were included. Patients above 70 were categorized into 4 groups according to age as 70-75, 76-80, 81-85, and >85 years and further divided into institutionalized and noninstitutionalized. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted to assess patient survival.

RESULTS

A total of 349,440 patients were identified above the age of 70 at the time of initiation of dialysis. For institutionalized patients, the mean survival was significantly lower, 1.71 ± 0.03 years for those in the age range 70-75, 1.44 ± 0.02 years for those in the age range 76-80, 1.25 ± 0.02 years for those in the age range 81-85, and 1.04 ± 0.02 for those in the >85 years age group (p = 0.0001). The hazard ratio for mortality in institutionalized elderly patients on dialysis was 1.80 ([95% CI 1.77-1.83]; p = 0.0001). After adjustment for other variables (multivariate Cox regression), to be institutionalized was still an independent risk factor for mortality (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.57 [95% CI 1.54-1.60]; p = 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

There was increased mortality in institutionalized elderly patients as compared to noninstutionalized elderly patients in the same age group. In accordance with the increased frailty and decreased benefits of therapies in the very elderly, especially in those with additional co-morbidities besides age, palliative and end-of-life care should be considered.

Prognosis and management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) at the end of life

The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) increases with age. As people are living longer, nephrologists are responsible for a progressively older cohort of patients with substantial comorbidities. Patients with CKD have a significant symptom burden and can benefit from intervention and symptom control from an early stage in the illness. It is also increasingly recognised that renal replacement therapy may not always offer an improvement in symptoms or a survival advantage to older patients with high levels of comorbidity. For these reasons, non-dialytic (conservative) management and end-of-life care is becoming part of routine nephrology practice. Such patients will also frequently be encountered in other specialities, requiring generalists to have some renal-specific skills and knowledge. Although there have been significant advances in this field in recent years, the optimum model of care and some of the care preferences of patients remain challenges that need to be addressed.