Circadian variation of death in hemodialysis patients.

Background: There is a circadian variation of death in nondialysis populations, with more cardiovascular events occurring in the morning. Whether this holds true in hemodialysis patients was never investigated.

Study Design: Case series.

The effect of frequent or occasional dialysis-associated hypotension on survival of patients on maintenance haemodialysis.

Background: While frequent or occasional symptomatic intradialytic hypotension (IDH) may influence patient well-being, its effects on survival-independent of comorbidities-has not previously been investigated. In this study, therefore, our objective was to assess the effect of frequent IDH (f-IDH) or occasional IDH (o-IDH) on survival.

Methods: During a 10 month run-in period in 1998, 77 patients with f-IDH (> or =10 hypotensive events/10 months, responding only to medical intervention) and 101 patients with o-IDH (1 or 2 events/10 months) were identified among all 958 patients of a dialysis network.

Comparison of dialysis and clinical characteristics of patients with frequent and occasional hemodialysis-associated hypotension.

Background: Symptomatic dialysis hypotension (DH) continues to be a common problem. By comparing patients prone and resistant to DH, several dialysis session and patient related characteristics have been identified that confer susceptibility to DH. Less is known, however, about the comparison of patients with frequent and only occasional DH.