Background And Objectives: In the United States, intravenous vitamin D analogs are the first-line therapy for management of secondary hyperparathyroidism in hemodialysis patients. Outside the United States, oral calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D) is routinely used. We examined standard laboratory parameters of patients on in-center hemodialysis receiving intravenous vitamin D who switched to oral calcitriol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfect Control Hosp Epidemiol
December 2018
Background: Antimicrobial stewardship programs are effective in optimizing antimicrobial prescribing patterns and decreasing the negative outcomes of antimicrobial exposure, including the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms. In dialysis facilities, 30%-35% of antimicrobials are either not indicated or the type of antimicrobial is not optimal. Although antimicrobial stewardship programs are now implemented nationwide in hospital settings, programs specific to the maintenance dialysis facilities have not been developed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The prevalence of depressive affect is not well defined in the incident hemodialysis (HD) population. We investigated the prevalence of and associated risk factors and hospitalization rates for depressive affect in incident HD patients.
Methods: We performed a prospective investigation using the Patient Health Questionnaire 2 (PHQ2) depressive affect assessment.
Background: Hemodialysis (HD) patients have high hospitalization rates. This nonrandomized trial tested the effect of a bundle of renal-specific "Right TraC™" strategies on 30-day all-cause readmission rates and, secondarily, 90-day readmissions and overall admissions among HD patients.
Methods: Twenty-six Fresenius clinics in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky participated in the interventions.
End stage renal disease (ESRD) patients require a large number of medications and are known to have high rates of nonadherence. It is estimated that >50% of ESRD patients do not take their phosphate binders as prescribed. The renal pharmacy FreseniusRx provides coordinated ESRD medication delivery and adherence support for enrolled patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNephrol News Issues
September 2016
Modalities of renal replacement therapy are categorized into incenter hemodialysis and home therapies. A subset of hemodialysis patients referred to as in-center self-care hemodialysis (ICSCHD) receive patient training as if they were going home but instead perform their dialysis in-center with minimal staff support. Preliminary data suggests ICSCHD is associated with better outcomes than traditional in-center hemodialysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultivariate outcomes are often measured longitudinally. For example, in hearing loss studies, hearing thresholds for each subject are measured repeatedly over time at several frequencies. Thus, each patient is associated with a multivariate longitudinal outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn medical studies, endpoints are often measured for each patient longitudinally. The mixed-effects model has been a useful tool for the analysis of such data. There are situations in which the parameters of the model are subject to some restrictions or constraints.
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