Haemodialysis therapy in the elderly has become a recognized reality only in the last decade Information collected from restricted statistics often leads to conflicting conclusions. Length of survival may be a useful indicator of the appropriateness of initiating treatment. Survival and important determinants of survival, such as cardiovascular problems, nutritional status and adequacy of dialysis, are addressed in this study and evaluated in 365 elderly patients, treated at a single institution over a 20 year period.