Family dynamics are the patterns of relating, or interactions, between family members. Each family system and its dynamics are unique, although there are some common patterns. All families have some helpful and some unhelpful dynamics.
According to USRDS data from. 2006,nearlyonehalfofincidentdialysispatientsin. the United States are senior citizens, with the me-. dian age at dialysis initiation at 64.4 yr old.1 Fur-. thermore,theelderlyarethefastest-growinggroup. of incident dialysis patients, meaning that this me-.
Lets look at some studies that have tried to compare survival between these two categories. A study on patients with stage 5 kidney disease who were at least 80 years of age reported a median life span that was 20 months longer (29 months vs 9 months) in patients choosing dialysis.