Suffering and Symptoms At the End of Life in ICU Patients Undergoing Renal Replacement Therapy

We know little about the end-of-life suffering and symptoms of intensive care unit (ICU) decedents in general and those who undergo renal replacement therapy (RRT) in particular.

To examine differences in end-of-life suffering and various symptoms' contribution to suffering between ICU decedents who did not undergo RRT, those who underwent RRT for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), and those who underwent RRT for acute kidney injury (AKI).

This is a cross-sectional study conducted at a quaternary-level referral hospital September 2015-March 2017. Nurses completed interviews about ICU patients' suffering and symptoms in their final week. We dichotomized overall suffering into elevated and non-elevated and each symptom as contributing or not to a patient's suffering.

Sixty-four nurses completed interviews on 165 patients. Median patient age was 67 years (interquartile range 57, 78); 41% were female. In a multivariable model, undergoing RRT for AKI (odds ratio [OR] 2.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.34-6.49) was significantly associated with elevated suffering compared to no RRT; undergoing RRT for ESKD was not. Adjusting for length of stay, AKI-RRT patients were more likely than non-RRT patients to have fecal incontinence (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.00-4.93), painful broken skin (OR 2.41, 95% CI 1.14-5.12), and rashes (OR 3.61, 95% CI 1.35-9.67) contributing to their suffering.

Undergoing RRT for AKI was associated with elevated suffering in the last week of life in ICU decedents. Painful broken skin, rashes, and fecal incontinence were more likely to contribute to suffering in AKI-RRT patients than in non-RRT patients. How to reduce suffering associated with AKI-RRT in ICU patients merits further study.