Savings in dialysis treatment?

The steadily increasing number of dialysis patients prompts considerations on possibilities for budget reductions with maintenance of treatment quality. A literature survey is presented concerning trends of population increase, individual treatment costs, rationing of patient intake, and consequences of delayed progress of renal insufficiency as well as of savings during both the initial and the later phases of regular dialysis therapy. Cost reduction in one area may well induce rising total budgets and influence clinical outcome.

Risk factors in haemodialysis patients: evaluation of commonly measured variables on death rate.

This study evaluates risk factors among commonly measured laboratory values and clinical findings in haemodialysis patients, followed by attempts to identify optimal treatment strategies. Average plasma concentrations of albumin, protein, CO2, urea and creatinine, and average values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, together with information on gender, age and renal diagnosis, were related to survival rate in 210 sequences of haemodialysis treatment during a period of 94 months. The average treatment time was 12.

Cancer occurrence in a cohort of patients treated with cimetidine.

The possible carcinogenic effects of antisecretory agents used in the treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcer were investigated in a population based cohort study of 16,739 patients who were prescribed the H2-antagonist cimetidine between 1977 and 1981. An excess risk for gastric cancer was observed, with a relative risk of about 10 in the first year after beginning use of the drug, which decreased thereafter. A similar pattern was seen for cancers of the colon, pancreas and gall bladder, and for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.