Palliative Care in Kidney Disease

Abstract

Patients with kidney disease may need palliative or supportive care. Although care should be based on needs and not on prognosis, it is nevertheless important to consider palliative needs in the context of the number of weeks, months, or years that remain. The issues that need to be addressed only weeks from death are often very different—and more urgent—than those to be addressed if there are years ahead. A comprehensive overview of evidence on survival allows the context of care to be understood.