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Table 1 Patient characteristics

From: Older patients’ experiences with a shared decision-making process on choosing dialysis or conservative care for advanced chronic kidney disease: a survey study

 

Choice for dialysis

(n = 75)

Choice for conservative care

(n = 24)

P value

Mean age (years)

79.8 ± 4.3

84.2 ± 4.9

< 0.001

Female

21 (28%)

11 (46%)

0.10

Davies comorbidity score

 

0.88

 No comorbidity

9 (12%)

2 (8%)

 

 Intermediate comorbidity

44 (59%)

15 (63%)

 Severe comorbidity

22 (29%)

7 (29%)

Currently living with partner

48/70 (69%)a

10/23 (44%)a

0.03

Stated to be religious

55/74 (74%)a

17 (71%)

0.74

Education levelb

 

0.15

 Primary education

16/73 (22%)a

10 (42%)

 

 Secondary education

44/73 (60%)a

10 (42%)

 Tertiary education

13/73 (18%)a

4 (17%)

Time since original treatment decision

 

0.04

 < 6 months

7 (9%)

8 (33%)

 

 6–12 months

18 (24%)

4 (17%)

 12–24 months

21 (28%)

5 (21%)

 > 24 months

29 (39%)

7 (29%)

Current treatment modality

41 (55%) pre-dialysis

24 (32%) hemodialysis

10 (13%) peritoneal dialysis

24 (100%) conservative care

Median number of consultations about preferred treatment between patient and healthcare team

4

(interquartile range: 3–5; minimum: 2; maximum: 14)

2

(interquartile range: 1–6; minimum: 1; maximum: 11)

0.002

Interviewer-administration of questionnaire

26 (35%)

6 (25%)

0.38

  1. Values are numbers (%) unless stated otherwise
  2. athe total number of patients is lower due to missing answers for this variable
  3. beducation level is based on the International Standard Classification of Education [53]