Survival increasing in elderly dialysis patients

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Survival among elderly Canadian patients initiating dialysis, which is used to treat kidney failure, improved significantly from 1990 to 1999, despite an increasing burden of other diseases, researchers report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"There is a dramatic increase in the number of individuals aged 65 years or more who are now starting dialysis within Canada -- and that's kind of a worldwide story," Dr. Sarbjit Vanita Jassal told Reuters Health. "The patients who are starting dialysis within our population anyway had a higher number of (other) illnesses at the time they start -- again, that's a story you'd also see in the US."

Despite this, "we saw an improvement in survival," she said.

Jassal, from University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario and colleagues analyzed data from 14,512 patients aged 65 and older who began dialysis between 1990 and 1999.

During the study period, the 5-year survival rates for patients 65 to 74 years of age increased from 25.8 to 33.5 percent. For older patients, survival rates rose from 14.2 to 20.3 percent.

"Referring an older person and considering dialysis is not futile," Jassal said. "It may be of benefit." What needs to be worked on now is identifying patients who will do well and those who won't.

SOURCE: Canadian Medical Association Journal, October 23, 2007.