10 Oct Older Patients Far More Likely To Receive Dialysis in US Than Other Countries

Posted at 20:10h in Author Interviews by

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Susan P. Y. Wong, MD Acting Instructor Division of Nephrology University of Washington Seattle VA Puget Sound Health Care Syste

Dr. Susan Wong

Susan P. Y. Wong, MD
Acting Instructor
Division of Nephrology
University of Washington
Seattle VA Puget Sound Health Care System

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: It is not known what proportion of US patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) go on to receive renal replacement therapy (RRT) with maintenance dialysis or kidney transplantation. Most of what is known about treatment practices for advanced CKD in the US comes from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS), our national registry of RRT. However, the USRDS does not collect information on patients who reach the advanced stages of CKD but do not receive RRT.

To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a retrospective study of a national cohort of 28,568 adults with advanced CKD (a sustained estimated glomerular filtration rate <6.8% among similarly aged patients described in these other countries. Despite the fact that age is strongly associated with limited survival and quality of life after dialysis initiation, our findings suggest that dialysis initiation practices were far more liberal among older patients in our study cohort than reported for other developed countries.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: More work is needed to clarify how decisions about dialysis unfold between patients and their healthcare providers and to ensure that treatment decisions truly reflect the priorities of individual patients and are grounded in realistic expectations about the benefits and harms of this treatment.

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2016 Sep 22. pii: CJN.03760416. [Epub ahead of print]
Decisions about Renal Replacement Therapy in Patients with Advanced Kidney Disease in the US Department of Veterans Affairs, 2000-2011.
Wong SP1, Hebert PL2, Laundry RJ3, Hammond KW4, Liu CF2, Burrows NR5, O’Hare AM6.

Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions.

More Medical Research Interviews on MedicalResearch.com

[wysija_form id=”5″]

Last Updated on October 10, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

210