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How do our Dialysis Patients Die?

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Summary:ABSTRACT Introduction: Elderly patients are the most frequent patients admitted to dialysis units. Relatively little is known about standards on endof-life (EOL) care among dialysis patients. From international literature, these patients are exposed to more aggressive treatments at EOL than patients with cancer or other chronic diseases and palliative referral is infrequent. This study aims to describe some end-of-life (EOL) practices in patients undergoing hemodialysis in NephroCare clinics in several cities in Portugal. Material and Methods: We designed a prospective, multicenter, observational, cross-sectional study conducted between October 1st, 2020 and September 30th, 2021 in six hemodialysis clinics including 1265 patients (pts). Results: During the year in analysis, 158 pts died (12.4%). Mean age was 76 years (25% of pts were older than 85 years) and dialysis vintage was 84 (2-963) months. Regarding comorbidities, 50% were diabetic, 40% had congestive heart failure, 25% had cancer and 17% had dementia. Mean age-adapted Charlson index was 13 ± 3. For 82 pts (51.9%), nephrologists would not be surprised if they died in the next 6 months. Seventy-three had hospital admissions in the previous three months. Four pts withdrew dialysis. Of those who died, only two had advance care directives, 18 had an opioid prescription in the last month of life and 17 were referred to palliative intervention mostly because of oncologic disorders. Seventy four percent of these pts died at the hospital and 23% died at home/nursing home. Not a single patient died under hospice care. Conclusion: Most of our patients commonly die in hospital, undergo invasive procedures, spend much of their remaining life fulfilling a demanding dialysis schedule and are admitted to the hospital wards without formal palliative intervention or discussion of goals of care, even when death is an expected outcome.
Main Authors:Farinha,Ana
Other Authors:Mendes,Beatriz; Mateus,Ana; Branco,Ana; Outerelo,Cristina; Buinho,Francisco; Neves,Marta; Ponce,Pedro
Subject:Advance Care Planning Kidney Failure, Chronic Palliative Care Renal Dialysis Terminal Care
Year:2023
Country:Portugal
Document type:article
Access type:open access
Associated institution:Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
Language:English
Origin:SciELO Portugal
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author Farinha,Ana
author2 Mendes,Beatriz
Mateus,Ana
Branco,Ana
Outerelo,Cristina
Buinho,Francisco
Neves,Marta
Ponce,Pedro
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author_facet Farinha,Ana
Mendes,Beatriz
Mateus,Ana
Branco,Ana
Outerelo,Cristina
Buinho,Francisco
Neves,Marta
Ponce,Pedro
author_role author
country_str PT
creators_json_txt [{\"Person.name\":\"Farinha,Ana\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Mendes,Beatriz\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Mateus,Ana\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Branco,Ana\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Outerelo,Cristina\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Buinho,Francisco\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Neves,Marta\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Ponce,Pedro\"}]
datacite.creators.creator.creatorName.fl_str_mv Farinha,Ana
Mendes,Beatriz
Mateus,Ana
Branco,Ana
Outerelo,Cristina
Buinho,Francisco
Neves,Marta
Ponce,Pedro
datacite.rights.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
datacite.subjects.subject.fl_str_mv Advance Care Planning
Kidney Failure, Chronic
Palliative Care
Renal Dialysis
Terminal Care
datacite.titles.title.fl_str_mv How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Farinha,Ana
Mendes,Beatriz
Mateus,Ana
Branco,Ana
Outerelo,Cristina
Buinho,Francisco
Neves,Marta
Ponce,Pedro
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv text/html
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0872-01692023000100011
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Sociedade Portuguesa de Nefrologia
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Portuguese Journal of Nephrology & Hypertension v.37 n.1 2023
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Advance Care Planning
Kidney Failure, Chronic
Palliative Care
Renal Dialysis
Terminal Care
dc.title.fl_str_mv How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
description ABSTRACT Introduction: Elderly patients are the most frequent patients admitted to dialysis units. Relatively little is known about standards on endof-life (EOL) care among dialysis patients. From international literature, these patients are exposed to more aggressive treatments at EOL than patients with cancer or other chronic diseases and palliative referral is infrequent. This study aims to describe some end-of-life (EOL) practices in patients undergoing hemodialysis in NephroCare clinics in several cities in Portugal. Material and Methods: We designed a prospective, multicenter, observational, cross-sectional study conducted between October 1st, 2020 and September 30th, 2021 in six hemodialysis clinics including 1265 patients (pts). Results: During the year in analysis, 158 pts died (12.4%). Mean age was 76 years (25% of pts were older than 85 years) and dialysis vintage was 84 (2-963) months. Regarding comorbidities, 50% were diabetic, 40% had congestive heart failure, 25% had cancer and 17% had dementia. Mean age-adapted Charlson index was 13 ± 3. For 82 pts (51.9%), nephrologists would not be surprised if they died in the next 6 months. Seventy-three had hospital admissions in the previous three months. Four pts withdrew dialysis. Of those who died, only two had advance care directives, 18 had an opioid prescription in the last month of life and 17 were referred to palliative intervention mostly because of oncologic disorders. Seventy four percent of these pts died at the hospital and 23% died at home/nursing home. Not a single patient died under hospice care. Conclusion: Most of our patients commonly die in hospital, undergo invasive procedures, spend much of their remaining life fulfilling a demanding dialysis schedule and are admitted to the hospital wards without formal palliative intervention or discussion of goals of care, even when death is an expected outcome.
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person_str_mv Farinha,Ana
Mendes,Beatriz
Mateus,Ana
Branco,Ana
Outerelo,Cristina
Buinho,Francisco
Neves,Marta
Ponce,Pedro
publishDate 2023
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Sociedade Portuguesa de Nefrologia
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spelling How do our Dialysis Patients Die?Farinha,AnaMendes,BeatrizMateus,AnaBranco,AnaOuterelo,CristinaBuinho,FranciscoNeves,MartaPonce,PedroAdvance Care PlanningKidney Failure, ChronicPalliative CareRenal DialysisTerminal Careopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0872-01692023000100011URLhttp://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0872-01692023000100011URLHasVersion2023-03-01ABSTRACT Introduction: Elderly patients are the most frequent patients admitted to dialysis units. Relatively little is known about standards on endof-life (EOL) care among dialysis patients. From international literature, these patients are exposed to more aggressive treatments at EOL than patients with cancer or other chronic diseases and palliative referral is infrequent. This study aims to describe some end-of-life (EOL) practices in patients undergoing hemodialysis in NephroCare clinics in several cities in Portugal. Material and Methods: We designed a prospective, multicenter, observational, cross-sectional study conducted between October 1st, 2020 and September 30th, 2021 in six hemodialysis clinics including 1265 patients (pts). Results: During the year in analysis, 158 pts died (12.4%). Mean age was 76 years (25% of pts were older than 85 years) and dialysis vintage was 84 (2-963) months. Regarding comorbidities, 50% were diabetic, 40% had congestive heart failure, 25% had cancer and 17% had dementia. Mean age-adapted Charlson index was 13 ± 3. For 82 pts (51.9%), nephrologists would not be surprised if they died in the next 6 months. Seventy-three had hospital admissions in the previous three months. Four pts withdrew dialysis. Of those who died, only two had advance care directives, 18 had an opioid prescription in the last month of life and 17 were referred to palliative intervention mostly because of oncologic disorders. Seventy four percent of these pts died at the hospital and 23% died at home/nursing home. Not a single patient died under hospice care. Conclusion: Most of our patients commonly die in hospital, undergo invasive procedures, spend much of their remaining life fulfilling a demanding dialysis schedule and are admitted to the hospital wards without formal palliative intervention or discussion of goals of care, even when death is an expected outcome.Sociedade Portuguesa de NefrologiaPortuguese Journal of Nephrology & Hypertension v.37 n.1 2023text/htmlengjournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501literature
spellingShingle How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
Farinha,Ana
Advance Care Planning
Kidney Failure, Chronic
Palliative Care
Renal Dialysis
Terminal Care
status SINGLETON
subject.fl_str_mv Advance Care Planning
Kidney Failure, Chronic
Palliative Care
Renal Dialysis
Terminal Care
title How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
title_full How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
title_fullStr How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
title_full_unstemmed How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
title_short How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
title_sort How do our Dialysis Patients Die?
topic Advance Care Planning
Kidney Failure, Chronic
Palliative Care
Renal Dialysis
Terminal Care
topic_facet Advance Care Planning
Kidney Failure, Chronic
Palliative Care
Renal Dialysis
Terminal Care
url http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0872-01692023000100011
visible 1