Sympathetic hyperactivity in haemodialysis patients is reduced by short daily haemodialysis.

Objective: Haemodialysis patients often have sympathetic hyperactivity. The hypothesis of this study was that a switch from three times weekly to short daily dialysis could affect sympathetic hyperactivity.

Methods: We studied 11 patients (eight men; aged 46 +/- 8 years) stable on haemodialysis for at least 1 year before and 6 months after conversion from three times to six times weekly dialysis without increasing total dialysis time (short daily dialysis).

Clinical outcome of daily dialysis.

Dialysis patients are prone to malnutrition, which may be counteracted by daily home hemodialysis (DHHD, 6 times a week) due to improved clinical outcome and quality of life. Eleven patients were treated with DHHD during 18 months, after a run-in period with three dialysis sessions a week. The total weekly dialysis dose was kept constant during the first 6 months of DHHD, whereupon it was allowed to increase.