TY - JOUR
T1 - Withholding versus withdrawing life-sustaining treatment
T2 - Patient factors and documentation associated with dialysis decisions
AU - Wenger, Neil S.
AU - Lynn, Joanne
AU - Oye, Robert K.
AU - Liu, Honghu
AU - Teno, Joan M.
AU - Phillips, Russell S.
AU - Desbiens, Norman A.
AU - Sehgal, Ashwini
AU - Kussin, Peter
AU - Taub, Harry
AU - Harrell, Frank
AU - Knaus, William
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2000 The American Geriatrics Society.
PY - 2000/5/1
Y1 - 2000/5/1
N2 - OBJECTIVE: We evaluated prospectively the use of acute hemodialysis among hospitalized patients to identify demographic and clinical predictors of and chart documentation concerning dialysis withheld and withdrawn. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study SETTING: Five teaching hospitals PATIENTS: Five hundred sixty-five seriously ill hospitalized patients who had not previously undergone dialysis who developed renal failure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, preferences, and prognostic estimates associated with having dialysis withheld rather than initiated and withdrawn rather than continued. Differences in chart documentation concerning decision-making for dialysis withheld, withdrawn, and continued. RESULTS: Older patient age, cancer diagnosis, and male gender were associated with dialysis withheld rather than withdrawn. Age and gender differences persisted after adjustment for patients' aggressiveness of care preference. Worse 2-month prognosis was associated with both withholding and withdrawing dialysis. Chart documentation of decision-making was lacking more often for patients with dialysis withheld than for dialysis withdrawn. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring the equity of life-sustaining treatment use will require evaluation of care withheld, not just care withdrawn. Older patients and men, after accounting for prognosis and function, are more likely to have dialysis withheld than withdrawn after a trial. Further exploration is needed into this disparity and the inadequate chart documentation for patients with dialysis withheld.
AB - OBJECTIVE: We evaluated prospectively the use of acute hemodialysis among hospitalized patients to identify demographic and clinical predictors of and chart documentation concerning dialysis withheld and withdrawn. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study SETTING: Five teaching hospitals PATIENTS: Five hundred sixty-five seriously ill hospitalized patients who had not previously undergone dialysis who developed renal failure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, preferences, and prognostic estimates associated with having dialysis withheld rather than initiated and withdrawn rather than continued. Differences in chart documentation concerning decision-making for dialysis withheld, withdrawn, and continued. RESULTS: Older patient age, cancer diagnosis, and male gender were associated with dialysis withheld rather than withdrawn. Age and gender differences persisted after adjustment for patients' aggressiveness of care preference. Worse 2-month prognosis was associated with both withholding and withdrawing dialysis. Chart documentation of decision-making was lacking more often for patients with dialysis withheld than for dialysis withdrawn. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring the equity of life-sustaining treatment use will require evaluation of care withheld, not just care withdrawn. Older patients and men, after accounting for prognosis and function, are more likely to have dialysis withheld than withdrawn after a trial. Further exploration is needed into this disparity and the inadequate chart documentation for patients with dialysis withheld.
KW - hemodialysis
KW - physician-patient relationship
KW - terminal care
KW - withdrawing care
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2000.tb03145.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2000.tb03145.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 10809460
AN - SCOPUS:0034102715
SN - 0002-8614
VL - 48
SP - S75-S83
JO - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
JF - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
IS - S1
ER -