Hemodialysis and the elderly patient: potential advantages as to quality of life, urea generation, serum creatinine, and less interdialytic weight gain

A total of 204 patients treated by maintenance hemodialysis or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) were studied to ascertain how advancing age influences adaptation to uremia therapy. No difference in Karnofsky score was noted among patients over 70 years of age and two groups of patients, 16 to 59, and 60 to 69 years of age, respectively. In a subset of 33 hemodialysis patients studied midweek, it was noted that increasing age is associated with a lower serum creatinine concentration, lower interdialytic weight gain, and a lower urea generation rate. These three findings contribute to a relative ease in treating older uremia patients with hemodialysis or CAPD, as they tend to be stable and compliant relative to younger patients.