Metabolic and hormonal assessment of patients on maintenance hemodialysis for 10 years or more and their importance in long-term survival.

We studied metabolic and hormonal patterns in 11 patients on hemodialysis for over 10 years (group A) to determine whether some metabolic abnormalities worsen with long-term dialysis or whether a particular endocrine-metabolic pattern discriminates long-term hemodialysis survivors. Data were compared to those of 14 subjects of similar age and sex on dialysis for 1-3 years (group B) and to those measured in the same patients during the 1st year of dialytic treatment. As to glucose metabolism, group A showed elevation of fasting plasma glucose and a decrease of glucose constant decay (K) and insulin production (IIG) values as compared to the 1st year of dialysis.