**4.7. Elderly patients**

A relationship has been found between the advanced ages of the patient with ESRD on HD; some authors considered ≥ 65 years and others ≥ 70 years with IE. Nori et al. reported a frequency of IE 27%, the highest among age groups for patients ≥ 70 years. Chou et al. reported 48% of HD patients with IE ≥ 65 years. The ages of the Patients in HD with IE were 62.12 ± 13.09 years versus 60.11 ± 14.06 years in HD patients without IE, resulting in a *p* < 0.001, confirming that the advanced age is a risk factor for IE. Watt et al. presented a comparison of patients treated in Rennes, France, versus patients treated in Khon Kaen, Thailand (from rural areas in Thailand), finding a statistical difference in the age with an average of 70 versus 47 years, respectively.

Also elderly patients are considered to have a poor prognostic factor in IE in HD patients.

Also older age is a determinant of the clinical features in IE. Fewer patients can go to surgical treatment and mortality is higher than in younger patients [7, 13, 15, 16, 23].
