RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Older patient considering treatment for advanced renal disease: protocol for a scoping review of the information available for shared decision-making JF BMJ Open JO BMJ Open FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group SP e013755 DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013755 VO 6 IS 12 A1 Raj, Rajesh A1 Ahuja, Kiran D K A1 Frandsen, Mai A1 Jose, Matthew YR 2016 UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/12/e013755.abstract AB Introduction Older adults constitute the largest group of patients on dialysis in most parts of the world. Management of advanced renal disease in the older adult is complex; treatment outcomes and prognosis can be markedly different from younger patients. Clinical teams caring for such patients are often called on to provide information regarding prognosis and outcomes with treatment—particularly, the comparison between having dialysis treatment versus not having dialysis. These discussions can be difficult for clinicians because they have to contend with incomplete or nascent data regarding prognosis and outcomes in this age group. We aim to summarise the currently available information regarding the prognosis and outcomes of advanced renal disease in the older adult by means of a scoping review of the literature. This article discusses our protocol.Methods This scoping review will be undertaken in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute's methodology for scoping reviews. A directed search will look for relevant articles in English (within electronic databases and the grey literature), written between 2000 and 2016, which have studied older patients with advanced renal disease (estimated glomerular filtration rate <30 mL/min/1.73 m2). After screening by two independent reviewers, selected articles will be analysed using a data charting tool. Reporting will include descriptions, analysis of themes using qualitative software and display of information using charts.Ethics and dissemination This scoping review will analyse previously collected data, and so does not require ethical approval. Results will be disseminated through academic journals, conferences and seminars. We anticipate that our summary of the currently available knowledge regarding the older adult with advanced renal disease will be a repository of information for clinicians in the field. We expect to identify areas of study that are suited to systematic reviews. Our findings can also be expected to influence guidelines and clinical practice recommendations in the future.