In the last two decades, most developed countries have seen a continuous growth in the number of elderly patients with end-stage
renal disease commencing renal replacement therapy. Despite the many advantages that peritoneal dialysis (PD) offers to elderly
patients with ESRD, it is still underutilized in older patients. Older patients are much more vulnerable to the problems associated
with aging, which may affect their level of independence and their long-term prognosis. Those patients have physiological
changes related to aging and common health problems such as anxiety, depression, dementia, visual impairment, and cognitive
impairment, all of which interfere with self-performing PD. Assistance with home-care nurses and assistance by a family member
may overcome this problem. Some old but also more recent literature data justifies the idea that assisted PD may significantly
contribute to increase the overall number of elderly patients who can be treated with PD at home. With assisted PD, free choice
can be offered to patients with high comorbidity index who cannot perform their peritoneal exchanges by themselves. Automated
peritoneal dialysis is the ideal treatment modality for elderly patients with end-stage renal disease who require assistance
since this limits home-care nurse visits to only two a day. As expected, the elderly have a higher mortality rate than younger
patients treated by assisted PD, but technique failure rate, overall peritonitis rate, and most quality-of-life (QoL) measures
are comparable with those of younger patients. Peritoneal dialysis in nursing homes offers treatment for elderly patients
without family support. In this regard, automated PD or nightly PD keeps the patient’s daytime free for nursing home activities,
increases socialization, and enables better rehabilitation that improves their QoL. Although withdrawal from dialysis is more
frequent among nursing-home dialysis patients, this high discontinuation rate is not due to dialysis per se but rather to
associated social and medical circumstances. Better communication between nursing staff and renal team is crucial for improving
staff confidence and will contribute to higher utilization of PD in nursing homes.
Keywords Elderly patients - Assisted peritoneal dialysis - Automated peritoneal dialysis