What is the outlook for an older person who develops kidney failure?
Click above to watch a video of Prof Fliss Murtagh, professor of palliative care, talking about life quality and quantity for people with kidney disease.
The UK Renal Registry (external link) provides data for all patients who receive renal dialysis in the UK. No data are currently collected for people who are treated for kidney failure without renal dialysis.
Patients with kidney failure live less long, on average, than people with healthy kidney function. It is impossible to make an accurate predication of how long any individual will live. Studies have looked at how long patients who prepared for renal dialysis live compared with patients who prepare for non-dialysis or ‘conservative’ care.
People who are over 80 years old or who have other major health problems appear to live about the same length of time, whichever treatment they prepare for. Amongst 100 people like this, 35 will have died within a year and 50 will have died within two years. It is for this group of people that kidney specialists have the greatest difficulty in offering good quality advice about which treatment to prepare for.
All existing studies have simply observed the outcomes of patients receiving routine NHS care. There will have been many differences between the groups of people who prepared for renal dialysis and responsive management. It is not possible to draw firm conclusions about how the pathways compare using this kind of evidence. Also, very little research has looked at how well people feel day-to-day on each pathway. The Prepare for Kidney Care study has been developed to provide the first high-quality evidence to answer both of these questions.