OBJECTIVES: The elderly comprise approximately half of new patients undergoing dialysis, an expensive, lifesaving treatment. We report the health status of 3 elderly age groups, including novel information about patients ³ 85 years, hypothesizing that as age increases health status will decrease. METHODS: This retrospective analysis reports on 6154 patients treated by one dialysis chain (48.4% male, 61.5% white, 39.1% diabetes as primary diagnosis). Health status is reported by a single administration of the SF-36 between 10/30/90 and 10/30/00. RESULTS: Mean SF-36 SCORE (SD) Age