What makes advance care planning discussion so difficult? A systematic review of the factors of advance care planning in healthcare settings.

OBJECTIVES: Existing systematic reviews related to advance care planning (ACP) largely focus on specific groups and intervention efficacy or are limited to contextual factors. This research aims to identify the modifiable factors perceived by different users of ACP in healthcare settings and inform healthcare professionals about the factors affecting ACP practice. METHODS: Five English-language databases (ProQuest, PubMed, CINAHL Plus, Scopus, and Medline) and two Chinese-language databases (CNKI and NCL) were searched up to November 2022. Empirical research identifying factors related to ACP in healthcare settings was included. ACP is defined as a discussion process on future end-of-life care. Thematic synthesis was performed on all included studies. RESULTS: A total of 1871 unique articles were screened; the full texts of 193 were assessed by 4 reviewers, and 45 articles were included for analysis. Twenty-two (54%) studies were qualitative, 15 (33%) were quantitative, and 6 (13%) used mixed methods. Foci varied from 28 (62%) studies on a single subject group (either patient, family, or physician), 11 (25%) on 2 subject groups (either patient and family or patient and healthcare professional), and 6 (13%) covered 3 subject groups (patient, family, and healthcare professional). Among the 17 studies involving more than 1 subject group, only 2 adopted a dyadic lens in analysis. Complex interwoven factors were categorized into (1) intrapersonal factors, (2) interpersonal factors, and (3) socio-environmental factors, with a total of 11 themes: personal belief, emotions, the burden on others, timing, responsiveness, relationship, family dynamics, experience, person taking the lead, culture, and support. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: Patients, families, and healthcare professionals are the essential stakeholders of ACP in healthcare settings. Factors are interweaved among the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and socio-environmental dimensions. Research is warranted to examine the dynamic interactions of the 3 essential stakeholders from a multidimensional perspective, and the mechanism of the interweaving of factors.

Clinical features and outcomes of renal amyloidosis in Hong Kong.

AIM: Early symptoms of primary (AL) amyloidosis are non-specific. Any delay in diagnosis and treatment results in poor outcome despite increasing treatment options. We aimed to determine baseline risk factors that identify patients with poor kidney outcomes and overall survivals. METHODS: We recruited all patients aged 18 years or above with biopsy-proven renal amyloidosis between years 2000 and 2019 in three Hong Kong regional hospitals. Patients' clinical and pathological parameters, treatment response, kidney outcomes and overall survivals were recorded and analysed. RESULTS: Thirty-six cases of renal amyloidosis were recruited. Four cases were diagnosed to have multiple myeloma. Edema was the most common presenting symptom. The mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 98.8 ml/min/1.73 m2 at presentation. Autologous stem cell transplant conferred the best renal outcomes as well as patients' survival. Twenty-two patients had 50% decrease in eGFR, 12 patients developed end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and 22 patients died. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, proteinuria and low eGFR were identified as independent baseline risk factors for ESKD. Proteinuria, hyperlipidemia, and cardiac involvement were independent baseline risk factors for death. CONCLUSION: Amyloidosis, a rare disease with poor prognosis without treatment. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heavy proteinuria and low eGFR at diagnosis were associated with poor kidney outcome.

The Symptoms Prevalence, Medical Interventions, and Health Care Service Needs for Patients With End-Stage Renal Disease in a Renal Palliative Care Program.

A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the symptoms prevalence and interventions initiated in the last 2 weeks of life, health care service utilization, and causes of death of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD under a renal palliative care (RPC) program. A total of 335 RPC patients were included, of which 226 patients died during the study period. The 5 most prevalent symptoms were dyspnea (63.7%), fatigue (51.8%), edema (48.2%), pain (44.2%), and anorexia (38.1%); and the 5 most prevalent interventions initiated were oxygen (69.5%), parenteral infusion (67.3%), antibiotics (53.5%), bladder catheterization (44.7%), and analgesic (39.8%) in the last 2 weeks of life. Each patient received 3.5 ± 4.4 outpatient clinic visit, 3.4 ± 10.3 home care visits, and 3.1 ± 2.7 hospital admissions. Besides ESRD (51.8%), the most common causes of death were cardiovascular events (18.6%) and infection (17.2%).

Hepatocellular carcinoma after kidney transplantation: analysis of Hong Kong Renal Registry.

Kidney transplant recipients have increased risk of cancers when compared with the general population. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is extremely important in Asia where hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is endemic. The aim is to study the epidemiological and clinical aspects of all de novo HCC in our kidney transplant recipients. Moreover, various preventive strategies which may help to optimize the outcome will also be discussed. A retrospective review of all patients who developed HCC after kidney transplantation between May 1972 and December 2011 in Hong Kong, based on the data from Hong Kong Renal Registry. After a follow-up period of 40,246 person-years, 20 patients (males 15: females 5) developed HCC. The annual incidence was 49.7/100,000 persons per year. Among them, 16 were HBV carriers, 2 were hepatitis C (HCV) carriers and 2 had HBV and HCV co-infection. Presence of HBV infection was associated with 78-fold higher risk for HCC development. Majority (85%) were asymptomatic when HCC was diagnosed by ultrasound or alpha-fetoprotein surveillance. All patients diagnosed by surveillance received active treatment while 2/3 of symptomatic patients could only receive symptomatic care and died rapidly. In conclusion, HBV infection is the major etiological factor for HCC development in kidney transplant recipients in HBV endemic areas. Regular HCC surveillance appeared to be able to detect early stage cancers which are amenable to treatment and offer the best hope of cure.

Extra-high-dose hepatitis B vaccination does not confer longer serological protection in peritoneal dialysis patients: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The response to recombinant hepatitis B vaccine remains suboptimal among the dialysis population. METHODS: In this multi-centre randomized controlled trial, we studied the factors that modify the response to intramuscular Engerix-B vaccination in patients on peritoneal dialysis. The primary aim was to study if a three-dose schedule of extra-high dose (80 microg) of Engerix-B would offer better primary seroconversion and more persistent serological protection than the conventional 40-microg dose. RESULTS: Forty-two peritoneal dialysis patients were randomized to receive the conventional 40-microg Engerix-B dose and 45 patients to 80-microg dose. Seroconversion [hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) level > or =10 IU/l 3 months after completion of the third dose] occurred in 78.6% of patients after 40-microg Engerix-B dosage treatment versus 62.2% for those receiving 80-microg Engerix-B treatment (P = 0.11). After 12 months, the persistence of protective anti-HBs also did not differ between 40- (45.2%) and 80-microg (51.1%) treatment groups (P = 0.67). In contrast, patients with seroconversion 3 months after the third dose of Engerix-B had a higher normalized protein nitrogen appearance (nPNA) than patients without seroconversion (1.16 +/- 0.25 versus 0.96 +/- 0.23 g/kg/day, P = 0.001). Conclusions. We found no evidence of a worthwhile clinical benefit from increasing the three-dose intramuscular Engerix-B vaccine from 40- to 80-microg dose. An unplanned analysis suggested a role of improved protein intake to improve the immune response to hepatitis B vaccine in peritoneal dialysis patients.