Personalized Hemodialysis Approaches in Frail Older Individuals

The hemodialysis population has progressively aged over the past two decades; in several settings, adults aged ≥75 years represent one of the fastest-growing populations receiving dialysis. Frailty, characterized by reduced physiological reserve and heightened vulnerability to stressors, has emerged as a critical determinant of outcomes and is commonly assessed using validated instruments such as the Fried Frailty Phenotype or the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Reported frailty prevalence in hemodialysis varies widely (approximately 20% to >80%), largely depending on the assessment instrument and the population studied, with consistently higher prevalence in older cohorts. It is consistently associated with older age, female sex, diabetes, lower serum albumin, cardiovascular disease, longer dialysis vintage, and lower physical activity. Compared with non-frail patients, frail hemodialysis patients have a substantially higher risk of death (approximately two-fold in pooled analyses). Seminal trials and large observational programs that shaped hemodialysis targets underrepresented very old, frail, and highly comorbid patients, limiting generalizability. In frail older adults with limited life expectancy and substantial comorbidity burden, standard thrice-weekly schedules, higher ultrafiltration intensity, and a uniform ‘fistula-first’ approach may increase treatment burden without clear proportional gains in patient-centered outcomes. This review examines evidence supporting individualized hemodialysis strategies in frail older adults. As the dialysis population continues to age, proficiency in goal-concordant, personalized prescribing is increasingly important for nephrologists and dialysis teams.