β2-Microglobulin, pulse pressure and metabolic alterations in hemodialysis patients.

Background/aim: Pulse pressure (PP) is a result of arterial stiffness seen in dialysis patients, but may be a consequence of fluid overload. We examined the role of β(2)-microglobulin (β(2)M) in PP in relation to metabolic alterations in patients on different hemodialysis (HD) modalities.

Methods: We studied 76 hemodialyzed patients on regular HD (n = 34), predilution bagged hemodiafiltration (n = 19) and online predilution hemodiafiltration (n = 23).