Table 3.
Association of dialysis treatment status with most favorable response on individual Bereaved Family Survey items
| Bereaved Family Survey Itema Dialysis Treatment Status | Unadjustedb | Adjusted (n=5435)c | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | Risk Difference (95% CI) | P Value | % | Risk Difference (95% CI) | P Value | |
| Always took time to listen | ||||||
| No dialysis | 73.7 | Reference | 71.1 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 69.3 | −4.4 (−8.4 to −0.5) | 0.05 | 70.4 | −0.7 (−4.5 to 3.1) | 0.72 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 66.4 | −7.3 (−10.2 to −4.5) | <0.001 | 67.1 | −4.0 (−7.2 to −0.8) | 0.01 |
| Always gave wanted medication and treatment | ||||||
| No dialysis | 79.3 | Reference | 76.4 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 74.7 | −4.6 (−8.3 to −1.0) | 0.05 | 75.8 | −0.7 (−4.4 to 3.1) | 0.73 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 72.8 | −6.6 (−9.1 to −4.1) | <0.001 | 73.4 | −3.0 (−6.1 to 0.0) | 0.05 |
| Always kind, caring, and respectful | ||||||
| No dialysis | 83.1 | Reference | 80.7 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 78.6 | −4.6 (−8.5 to −0.7) | <0.05 | 79.3 | −1.4 (−5.6 to 2.9) | 0.52 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 76.0 | −7.2 (−9.9 to −4.4) | <0.001 | 76.8 | −3.9 (−7.2 to −0.6) | 0.02 |
| Always informed patient and family | ||||||
| No dialysis | 69.1 | Reference | 66.3 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 65.6 | −3.4 (−7.7 to 0.8) | 0.11 | 67.4 | 1.1 (−3.2 to 5.3) | 0.63 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 63.0 | −6.0 (−9.0 to −3.1) | <0.001 | 64.1 | −2.2 (−5.6 to 1.1) | 0.19 |
| Always attended to personal care needs | ||||||
| No dialysis | 66.3 | Reference | 63.3 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 59.8 | −6.5 (−11.7 to −1.2) | 0.02 | 59.2 | −4.1 (−9.5 to 1.2) | 0.13 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 58.4 | −7.9 (−11.6 to −4.2) | <0.001 | 60.1 | −3.2 (−6.8 to 0.4) | 0.08 |
| Always gave enough spiritual support | ||||||
| No dialysis | 61.9 | Reference | 59.6 | |||
| Acute dialysis | 55.5 | −6.3 (−11.1 to −1.5) | 0.01 | 57.1 | −2.5 (−8.0 to 3.0) | 0.37 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 55.2 | −6.6 (−9.6 to −3.6) | <0.001 | 56.5 | −3.1 (−6.6 to 0.4) | 0.08 |
| Always gave enough emotional support before death | ||||||
| No dialysis | 63.7 | Reference | 60.1 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 54.0 | −9.8 (−14.3 to −5.3) | <0.001 | 55.4 | −4.7 (−9.3 to −0.0) | <0.05 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 56.4 | −7.3 (−10.4 to −4.2) | <0.001 | 58.4 | −1.7 (−5.3 to 2.0) | 0.37 |
| Always gave enough emotional support after death | ||||||
| No dialysis | 68.1 | Reference | 65.8 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 64.1 | −4.0 (−8.3 to 0.3) | 0.07 | 65.9 | 0.1 (−4.9 to 5.1) | 0.97 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 62.6 | −5.5 (−8.6 to −2.4) | <0.001 | 64.0 | −1.8 (−5.6 to 2.1) | 0.37 |
| Alerted family before the patient’s death | ||||||
| No dialysis | 81.8 | Reference | 81.8 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 81.1 | −0.7 (−4.8 to 3.4) | 0.74 | 81.1 | −0.7 (−5.0 to 3.7) | 0.77 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 78.4 | −3.3 (−6.3 to −0.4) | 0.03 | 78.3 | −3.5 (−6.8 to −0.2) | 0.04 |
| Patient usually not uncomfortable from paind | ||||||
| No dialysis | 52.2 | Reference | 49.1 | Reference | ||
| Acute dialysis | 51.1 | −1.1 (−5.8 to 3.5) | 0.64 | 52.5 | 3.4 (−1.7 to 8.5) | 0.19 |
| Maintenance dialysis | 44.9 | −7.2 (−10.1 to −4.3) | <0.001 | 47.2 | −1.9 (−5.5 to 1.7) | 0.30 |
Logistic regression with no dialysis group as the reference, confidence intervals adjusted for facility-level clustering; presented are the predicted probabilities over the distribution of covariates in the respondent sample; 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) and P values are for differences in the predicted probabilities.
Dichotomized as most favorable response versus all other responses.
Denominators for unadjusted models vary due to missing items (Supplemental Appendix 2, Supplemental Table 4).
Missing items imputed, model adjusted for race, age, sex, next of kin, region, facility complexity, year of death, individual comorbidities, and weighted for unit nonresponse.
Pain was dichotomized as “never” or “sometimes” versus “always” or “usually.”