(Press-News.org) Frequent hemodialysis improved left ventricular mass (heart size) and self-reported physical health compared to conventional hemodialysis for kidney failure, according to the Frequent Hemodialysis Network (FHN) Daily Trial funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Results were published online Nov. 20, 2010, in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with a presentation at the American Society of Nephrology meeting in Denver.
Six hemodialysis treatments per week improved left ventricular mass and physical health compared to conventional, three weekly dialysis therapy sessions. Frequent hemodialysis was also associated with improved control of high blood pressure and excessive phosphate levels in the blood, a common problem in patients on hemodialysis. There were no significant effects on cognitive performance, self-reported depression, or the use of drugs to treat anemia.
Previous observational data suggested that the dose of hemodialysis correlates directly with patient survival. However, results from the HEMO Study (http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/dec2002/niddk-18.htm), funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the NIH and published in 2002, showed no added benefit of increasing the per-treatment dose of hemodialysis in the conventional three times per week method. A few small, single-center studies found that the dialysis dose could be greatly increased by adding more dialysis sessions. Those findings led FHN researchers to test the hypothesis that almost daily treatment would improve both objective and subjective, or patient-reported, outcomes, authors said.
"We confirmed that by administering dialysis more often, although with a smaller dose each time, we could effectively deliver a higher weekly dose overall," said Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., NIDDK director. "As a result, patients' hearts remained healthier, they enjoyed better blood pressure control and they enjoyed better physical health than those receiving the standard three treatments per week."
The FHN Daily Trial involved 245 patients at 10 university and 54 community-based hemodialysis facilities in North America between Jan. 2006 and March 2010. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either conventional three weekly dialysis treatments or six treatments a week. The study measured two co-primary outcomes:
Death, or change in left ventricular mass – the size of the heart's left ventricle – a sign of heart health
Death, or change in the physical health component (PHC), compiled from the RAND-36, a patient questionnaire widely used in clinical medicine to determine how well a person feels and functions
Patients randomized to six treatments a week were more likely to undergo treatment for vascular access problems.
The FHN Daily Trial was not designed to detect differences in mortality between treatment groups. However, the study showed promising results that more frequent dialysis could be of benefit to some patients.
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For more information on the FHN Daily Trial, search for NCT00264758 at www.clinicaltrials.gov. Learn about kidney disease at http://nkdep.nih.gov.
With the loss of about 90 percent of usual kidney function, either kidney transplantation or dialysis is required. Nearly 400,000 people in the United States and 2 million worldwide are dependent on dialysis. Mortality rates remain high--18 to 20 percent a year--despite improvements in dialysis technology, new medications and more than 40 years of experience. Patients experience frequent hospitalizations and reduced health-related quality of life.
The NIDDK, a component of the NIH, conducts and supports research on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about the NIDDK and its programs, see www.niddk.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), previously known as the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and health insurance portability standards. In addition to these programs, CMS has other responsibilities, including the administrative simplification standards from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), quality standards in long-term care facilities (more commonly referred to as nursing homes) through its survey and certification process, and clinical laboratory quality standards under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments.
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