The extent of informed decision-making about starting dialysis: does patients' age matter?

ABSTRACT:

Background

A growing number of elderly patients with end-stage renal disease start dialysis. We examined elderly (≥65 years) patients' views about their decision-making experience after starting dialysis in comparison with patients aged 50-64 years, and patients ≤49 years.

Methods

Ninety-nine patients from 15 outpatient dialysis centers in North Carolina, USA completed a semi-structured interview asking them about the context of decision-making and their decision-making experience, and a 10-item investigator-developed Informed Decision-Making (IDM) questionnaire with binary response options (yes/no).

Results

While IDM scores were low for all three groups (<5 out of 10), they were significantly lower for the older group compared to the other two younger groups (p = 0.0

SUBMITTER: Song MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4130809 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature