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Evidence suggests that most patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) do not engage in advance care planning. In this study, researchers asked 933 patients (mean age, 63) with ESKD who were receiving maintenance dialysis what kind of care they would value if they became seriously ill and what advance care planning they had done. For those who later died, researchers determined what kind of care they had received.
About half of patients indicated they would value comfort-focused care; the rest preferred longevity-focused care or were unsure. Those who valued comfort-focused care were significantly more likely than others to have identified a surrogate decision-maker (52% vs. 45%), documented treatment preferences, (48% vs. 28%) and discus…