ObjectiveTo study the clinical characteristics of elderly hemodialysis (HD) patients and discuss how to control their complications, in order to improve their quality of life and lower their mortality rate. MethodContrastive study and analysis were performed on the clinical data of 98 maintenance HD patients (between elderly and young HD patients) between January 2013 and January 2014. Complications, rate of hospitalization and mortality were analyzed during the follow-up of one year. ResultsThe ratio of hypertensive kidney disease and diabetic nephropathy, as primary disease of the elderly HD patients, gradually increased. More people chose to use semi-permanent jugular vein catheter for elderly HD patients. Compared with young HD patients, the levels of hemoglobin, albumin, serum creatinine, KT/v were lower in the elderly patients, and C-reactive protein was much higher (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in cholesterol, triglyceride, calcium, phosphorus, parathormone between the two groups (P>0.05). Dialysis-related hypotension and blocking of vascular access occurred more frequently in elderly HD patients. Hospitalization rate and mortality rate were higher in elderly HD patients (P<0.05). ConclusionsImproving nutritional status, keeping vascular access unobstructed for a long time and decreasing complications related to hemodialysis are helpful for elderly HD patients to enhance their quality of life and reduce the mortality rate.