Peritoneal dialysis is appropriate for elderly patients.
OBJECTIVE
The utilization of peritoneal dialysis decreases with age. A number of concerns have been raised regarding the suitability of peritoneal dialysis for elderly patients. The purpose of this review is to determine whether these concerns are medically valid.


METHODS
Literature review and synthesis.


RESULTS
Most elderly patients possess the manual and cognitive skills necessary to perform peritoneal dialysis. Elderly patients on peritoneal dialysis exhibit excellent compliance with their treatment regimen and display no increase in the rate of infectious complications though they may have a slight increase in hospital days. They easily achieve adequacy targets, experience good technique survival and their nutritional status is at least as good as that of their hemodialysis counterparts. Patient survival varies around the world but is overall comparable to that of age-matched patients on hemodialysis. Quality of life may be somewhat superior to that of older hemodialysis patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Elderly patients with end-stage renal disease are appropriate candidates for peritoneal dialysis. It is not medically justifiable to exclude them from consideration for this therapeutic modality.
Teitelbaum
Isaac
I
Division of Renal Disease and Hypertension, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colo., USA.
D000368:Aged; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010530:Peritoneal Dialysis / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology