engleski

Survival of hemodialysis patients older than 65 years:Influence of albumin, hemoglobin and cholesterol concentration

More and more patients over 65 years of age are starting dialysis treatment. It is understood that they are a special and more sensitive group, due to their age and correlated diseases. The aim of this work is to analyze the influence of albumin, hemoglobin, and cholesterol concentration at the beginning of treatment on survival of patients over 65 years. Between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 1999, we followed 61 patients starting hemodialysis (31 male and 30 female). All patients were over 65 years old. Their survival was monitored until June 30, 2002. They were divided into four groups, according to years of survival. In the first group were the patients who died during the first year of treatment. The second group consisted of patients who died in the second year of treatment. In the third group were patients still alive in the third year of treatment and up to the fifth year. The fourth group consist of the patients who survived longer than five years. The average albumin values (g/L) for the first group at the beginning of dialysis were 31.9 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 5.9 ; for the second 35.3 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 6.4 ; the third 38.1 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 6.6 and the fourth 41.8 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 6.7 (P = 0.017). Initial hemoglobin (g/L) was, for the first group 81.1 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 14.3 ; the second group 85.7 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 20.5 ; the third 86.4 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 14.5 and the fourth 97.2 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 6.2 (P = 0.021). Cholesterol (mmol/L) in the first group, when they started the treatment, was 4.7 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 1.1, the second 5.1 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 1.8, the third 5.2 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 1.5, and the fourth 5.1 &plusmn ; ; ; ; ; 0.7 (P = 0.072). From these results it is obvious that shorter survival of older patients on hemodialysis is in correlation with lower albumin and hemoglobin values in the beginning of treatment. Also, patients with shorter survival rates had lower cholesterol values, but here are no statistically significant differences. It can be concluded that there is a better prognosis for patients starting dialysis when they have good albumin, hemoglobin and cholesterol values.

hemodialysis; survival; albumin; hemoglobin; cholesterol

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