Older patients undergoing dialysis treatment: cognitive functioning, depressive mood and health-related quality of life.

An increasing number of older patients receive dialysis treatment to compensate for deficient kidneys due to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Ethical questions arise about the benefits of dialysis when a patient appears unwilling or unable to comply with this treatment procedure. Such attitudes and behaviour may be due to psychological factors, but these are not routinely assessed.

Identification of quality of life concerns of patients with obstructive sleep apnoea at the time of initiation of continuous positive airway pressure: a discourse analysis.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is a common condition with multiple symptoms dominated by daytime somnolence. Thus many worries and concerns of patients remain hidden. Treatment by nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can be imposing for the individual.

[A French tool for evaluation of home palliative care: adaptation of the Support Team Assessment Schedule].

The authors describe the utilisation of a quality assessment tool for palliative care administered at home. The questionnaire entitled Support Team Assessment Schedule (STAS) was translated from English for this study. It was then utilised comparatively with different quality of life evaluation instruments.