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-.
All the patients were at least 75 years old. The 1-year survival rates were 84% in the group choosing dialysis and 68% in the group choosing non-dialytic management. One might deduce from this data that kidney failure patients who opt for dialysis will generally tend to live longer. However, the above would be a simplistic assumption.