An overview of chronic kidney disease in older people
Intended for healthcare professionals
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An overview of chronic kidney disease in older people

Robert Lewis Consultant nephrologist, Wessex Renal and Transplant Unit, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth

There is a lack of consensus about how early chronic kidney disease (CKD) should be diagnosed and managed in older people. Some believe that reduced renal function in older age is usually benign and that identifying it as a condition requiring medical intervention is inappropriate, whereas others believe it represents an important public health issue. This uncertainty is not reflected in management guidelines.

There is no controversy, however, that advanced CKD is particularly dangerous in older people. They are at risk of acute kidney injury, often worsened by unenlightened medical management. As CKD advances towards end stage in older people, treatment choices are even more difficult to make and there is a need for insightful input from carers to optimise outcomes.

Nursing Older People. 25, 10, 31-38. doi: 10.7748/nop2013.12.25.10.31.e525

Correspondence

robert.lewis@porthosp.nhs.uk

Peer review

This article has been subject to double blind peer review

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 12 September 2013

Accepted: 22 October 2013

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