‘When less is more: Optimising care for elderly patients failing to thrive on dialysis.’

As the prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has risen significantly over the last ten years, renal replacement therapy (RRT) remains a limited resource. In addition, 25% of new dialysis patients in the United Kingdom are over 75 years of age, and have the greatest increase in uptake of RRT.1 For the majority of patients with ESRD, RRT prolongs life and alleviates symptom burden. However, in those aged ≥75 years when first commencing RRT, the survival advantage may be substantially reduced by comorbidity, in particular, by ischaemic heart disease,2 with probability of survival of 71% at one year and 54% at 2 years in Europe 3, 59% and 43% respectively in the USA.

http://ift.tt/2jW9rkM