Reanalysis of the physical and mental health summary scores of dialysis versus conservative care in older patients with advanced chronic kidney disease: a critical appraisal

摘要

Abstract ObjectiveNon-dialytic conservative care is argued to be a reasonable treatment alternative for dialysis in selected older patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. We evaluated patient-relevant outcomes including health-related quality of life in a previous study. However, the scoring algorithm we used to calculate the physical and mental component summary scores of the Short Form-36 (SF-36) turned out to differ from comparable studies on this topic. The aim of this critical appraisal was to reanalyze the SF-36 summary scores in our patient cohort (≥?70?years) using the more widely used scoring algorithm.ResultsPatients on conservative care ( n =?23) had lower physical and mental component summary scores compared to patients not yet started on dialysis ( n =?39), but similar compared to patients on dialysis ( n =?34). These findings were similar to our original findings and did not change the conclusions. Several scoring algorithms are used for the SF-36 summary scores. Researchers should be aware of this fact and should use the same scoring algorithm across similar studies in a specific field to increase comparability. Using the more widely used scoring algorithm, the recalculated SF-36 summary scores of our patient cohort can now be compared to other studies.