Dialysis Among the Elderly

Dialysis Among the Elderly

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GENERAL TOPIC: Health - Nursing

CITATION STYLE: APA

SOURCES: 10

VIEWS: 212

WORDS: 2861

PAGES: 8

PAPER #: 63393486

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The methods and availability of dialysis have improved over the years and yet patients who are beginning to undergo dialysis have become sicker and more debilitated than in the past. Even though dialysis can prolong life, the benefit to individual patients varies greatly. A number of studies have suggested that dialysis, as compared with conservative therapy, increases longevity in elders, but not in the sickest patients. Other data indicates that increasing numbers of coexisting conditions predict early death in patients with ESRD (Arnold and Zeidel, 2009)

In a study done by Cook and Jassal (2008) that measured the functional status of elderly patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis therapy the data presented showed a high occurrence of disability in activities required for independent living among older patients. This high incidence of functional impairment may contribute to the high mortality and morbidity rates seen in dialysis patients. In one study of elderly patients undergoing dialysis, those who were non-ambulatory were shown to have a higher mortality rate than those who were able to get round. Correspondingly in older non-renal populations, functional impairment was closely associated with more frequent and prolonged hospitalization, high morbidity, and high mortality.