Chronic kidney disease in the elderly: is it really a premise for overwhelming renal failure?

Increasingly, the majority of patients being diagnosed as affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) are elderly. Nonetheless, only a rather small proportion of elderly CKD patients actually progress to end-stage renal disease, whereas many more die before this stage is reached, largely because of cardiovascular disease. This underscores the urgent need for cardiovascular prevention, even more importantly than for renoprotection, among elderly patients with CKD.