Comparison of 4- and 8-h dialysis sessions in thrice-weekly in-centre haemodialysis: a prospective, case-controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Longer dialysis sessions may improve outcome in haemodialysis (HD) patients. We compared the clinical and laboratory outcomes of 8- and 4-h thrice-weekly HD. METHODS: Two-hundred and forty-seven HD patients who agreed to participate in a thrice-weekly 8-h in-centre nocturnal HD (NHD) treatment and 247 age-, sex-, diabetes status- and HD duration-matched control cases to 4-h conventional HD (CHD) were enrolled in this prospective controlled study. Echocardiography and psychometric measurements were performed at baseline and at the 12th month. The primary outcome was 1-year overall mortality. RESULTS: Overall mortality rates were 1.77 (NHD) and 6.23 (CHD) per 100 patient-years (P = 0.01) during a mean 11.3 ± 4.7 months of follow-up. NHD treatment was associated with a 72% risk reduction for overall mortality compared to the CHD treatment (hazard ratio = 0.28, 95% confidence interval 0.09-0.85, P = 0.02). Hospitalization rate was lower in the NHD arm. Post-HD body weight and serum albumin levels increased in the NHD group. Use of antihypertensive medications and erythropoietin declined in the NHD group. In the NHD group, left atrium and left ventricular end-diastolic diameters decreased and left ventricular mass index regressed. Both use of phosphate binders and serum phosphate level decreased in the NHD group. Cognitive functions improved in the NHD group, and quality of life scores deteriorated in the CHD group. CONCLUSIONS: Eight-hour thrice-weekly in-centre NHD provides morbidity and possibly mortality benefits compared to conventional 4-h HD.

A controlled study of psychiatric manifestations and electroencephalography findings in chronic kidney disease patients with Sagliker syndrome.

Sagliker syndrome (SS) is a novel syndrome that was described in 2004 in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The aim of this study was to assess psychiatric evaluations and electroencephalography (EEG) findings of patients with CKD and SS to compare them with patients with CKD having characteristics similar to that of the study group, in terms of age and gender. The study group comprised 13 patients with CKD and SS. The control group included 13 patients with CKD. Psychiatric diseases were diagnosed using the Structure Clinical Interview. Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Social Comparison Scale, Hopelessness Scale, and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) were administered to the groups. Moreover, EEG recording for all the patients was performed. According to the results obtained from the Structure Clinical Interview, 69.2% of patients with CKD and SS were diagnosed with a mental disease, as compared with only 3 (23.1%) patients with CKD. There was a significant difference between the study and the control group (P < .001). As compared with the control group, patients with CKD and SS had significantly higher scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Hopelessness Scale. However, patients with CKD and SS had significantly lower scores on the Social Comparison Scale. The MMSE scores were not significantly different between the 2 groups. When the 2 groups were evaluated separately, no significant differences were found between the EEG abnormalities and psychiatric diagnosis of both the groups. However, an evaluation of EEG abnormalities in all cases with CKD suggested a statistically significant difference between them. In the EEG recordings, electrical seizures activity was not enrolled in any of the cases. In the present study, psychiatric morbidity for patients with CKD and SS was worse than for patients with only CKD. These results indicate a need to develop an effective psychologic strategy for dealing with psychiatric disorders among patients with CKD and SS.