Dialysis Patient-Centeredness and Precision Medicine: Focus on Incremental Home Hemodialysis and Preserving Residual Kidney Function.

An exponential interest in incremental transition to dialysis recently has emerged in lieu of outright three times/wk hemodialysis initiation as the standard of care. Incremental dialysis is consistent with precision medicine, given individualized dialysis dose adjustment based on patient's dynamic needs, leading to reduced patient suffering from longer or more frequent dialysis treatments and improved health-related quality of life. It includes twice-weekly or less frequent hemodialysis treatments with or without a low-protein diet on nondialysis days, or a shorter (<3 h) hemodialysis treatment three times per week or more frequent treatments, a useful approach for home hemodialysis initiation.

Precision Medicine and Personalized Management of Lipoprotein and Lipid Disorders in Chronic and End-Stage Kidney Disease.

Precision medicine is an emerging field that calls for individualization of treatment strategies based on characteristics unique to each patient. In lipid management, current guidelines are driven mainly by clinical trial results that presently indicate that patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) should be treated with a β-hydroxy β-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitor, also known as statin therapy. For patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) being treated with hemodialysis, statin therapy has not been shown to successfully reduce poor outcomes in trials and therefore is not recommended.

Precision Medicine in the Transition to Dialysis and Personalized Renal Replacement Therapy.

Launched in 2016, the overarching goal of the Precision Medicine Initiative is to promote a personalized approach to disease management that takes into account an individual's unique underlying biology and genetics, lifestyle, and environment, in lieu of a one-size-fits-all model. The concept of precision medicine is pervasive across many areas of nephrology and has been particularly relevant to the care of advanced chronic kidney disease patients transitioning to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Given many uncertainties surrounding the optimal transition of incident ESKD patients to dialysis and transplantation, as well as the high mortality rates observed during this delicate transition period, there is a pressing urgency for implementing precision medicine in the management of this population.

Predialysis Kidney Function and Its Rate of Decline Predict Mortality and Hospitalizations After Starting Dialysis.

Objective: To determine whether kidney function level and its rate of decline in the immediate predialysis period among veterans transitioning to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) predict postdialysis mortality and hospitalization.

Patients And Methods: In 19,985 veterans transitioning to ESRD during the period October 1, 2007, to March 30, 2014, we examined kidney function and its slope over the final year of the pre-ESRD(prelude) period. Two categories of low vs high estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, dichotomized at 10 mL/min/1.

Red blood cell distribution width and mortality and hospitalizations in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Background: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is found to be associated with different types of anemia and has recently been studied as a prognostic marker of mortality in hemodialysis patients. However, the relationship of RDW with mortality and hospitalization rate in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients is less known.

Methods: Among 14 323 incident PD patients between 2007 and 2011 in the USA, we examined the relationship of baseline and time-varying RDW with the risk of mortality and time to first hospitalization using adjusted Cox models.

Obesity Paradox in Advanced Kidney Disease: From Bedside to the Bench.

While obesity is associated with a variety of complications including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and premature death, observational studies have also found that obesity and increasing body mass index (BMI) can be linked with improved survival in certain patient populations, including those with conditions marked by protein-energy wasting and dysmetabolism that ultimately lead to cachexia. The latter observations have been reported in various clinical settings including end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and have been described as the "obesity paradox" or "reverse epidemiology", engendering controversy. While some have attributed the obesity paradox to residual confounding in an effort to "debunk" these observations, recent experimental discoveries provide biologically plausible mechanisms in which higher BMI can be linked to longevity in certain groups of patients.

Inverse Association Between Serum Non-High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels and Mortality in Patients Undergoing Incident Hemodialysis.

Background: There is accumulating evidence that serum levels of non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) are a more accurate predictor of cardiovascular outcomes when compared with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. However, we recently found that higher serum concentrations of triglycerides are associated with better outcomes in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Therefore, we hypothesized that the association of serum levels of non-HDL-C (which includes triglyceride-rich lipoproteins) with outcomes may also be different in patients undergoing hemodialysis when compared with other patient populations.

Dialysate Potassium and Mortality in a Prospective Hemodialysis Cohort.

Background: Studies examining the association of dialysate potassium concentration and mortality in hemodialysis patients show conflicting findings. We hypothesized that low dialysate potassium concentrations are associated with higher mortality, particularly in patients with high pre-dialysis serum potassium concentrations.

Methods: We evaluated 624 hemodialysis patients from the prospective Malnutrition, Diet, and Racial Disparities in Kidney Disease study recruited from 16 outpatient dialysis facilities over 2011-2015 who underwent protocolized collection of dialysis treatment characteristics every 6 months.

Proteinuria-associated renal magnesium wasting leads to hypomagnesemia: a common electrolyte abnormality in chronic kidney disease.

Background: Hypomagnesemia (Hypo-Mg) predicts mortality and chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression. However, in CKD, its prevalence, kidney-intrinsic risk factors, and the effectiveness of oral magnesium (Mg) therapy on serum Mg levels is uncertain.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study enrolling pre-dialysis outpatients with CKD, the prevalence of electrolyte abnormalities (Mg, sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphorus) was compared.

Association of Pre-End-Stage Renal Disease Hemoglobin with Early Dialysis Outcomes.

Background: Incident hemodialysis patients have a high mortality risk within the first months after dialysis initiation. Pre-end-stage renal disease (ESRD) factors like anemia management may impact early post-ESRD outcomes. Therefore, we evaluated the impact of pre-ESRD hemoglobin (Hgb) and pre-ESRD Hgb slope on post-ESRD mortality and hospitalization outcomes.

Incremental dialysis for preserving residual kidney function-Does one size fit all when initiating dialysis?

While many patients have substantial residual kidney function (RKF) when initiating hemodialysis (HD), most patients with end stage renal disease in the United States are initiated on 3-times per week conventional HD regimen, with little regard to RKF or patient preference. RKF is associated with many benefits including survival, volume control, solute clearance, and reduced inflammation. Several strategies have been recommended to preserve RKF after HD initiation, including an incremental approach to HD initiation.

Potentially Avoidable Readmissions in United States Hemodialysis Patients.

Introduction: Patients with end-stage kidney disease have a high risk of 30-day readmission to hospital. These readmissions are financially costly to health care systems and are associated with poor health-related quality of life. The objective of this study was to describe and analyze the frequency, causes, and predictors of 30-day potentially avoidable readmission to hospital in patients on hemodialysis.

Impact of residual kidney function on hemodialysis adequacy and patient survival.

Background: Both dialysis dose and residual kidney function (RKF) contribute to solute clearance and are associated with outcomes in hemodialysis patients. We hypothesized that the association between dialysis dose and mortality is attenuated with greater RKF.

Methods: Among 32 251 incident hemodialysis patients in a large US dialysis organization (2007-11), we examined the interaction between single-pool Kt/V (spKt/V) and renal urea clearance (rCLurea) levels in survival analyses using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model.

Apabetalone Mediated Epigenetic Modulation is Associated with Favorable Kidney Function and Alkaline Phosphatase Profile in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

Background/aims: The association between serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) with adverse cardiovascular outcomes, in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients has previously been reported and may be a result of increased vascular calcification and inflammation. Here we report, for the first time, the effects of pharmacologic epigenetic modulation on levels of ALP and kidney function via a novel oral small molecule BET inhibitor, apabetalone, in CKD patients.

Methods: A post-hoc analysis evaluated patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.

Parathyroidectomy in the Management of Secondary Hyperparathyroidism.

Secondary hyperparathyroidism develops in CKD due to a combination of vitamin D deficiency, hypocalcemia, and hyperphosphatemia, and it exists in nearly all patients at the time of dialysis initiation. There is insufficient data on whether to prefer vitamin D analogs compared with calcimimetics, but the available evidence suggests advantages with combination therapy. Calcium derangements, patient adherence, side effects, and cost limit the use of these agents.

Increments in serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol over time are not associated with improved outcomes in incident hemodialysis patients.

Background: Elevated serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) has not been associated with better cardiovascular (CV) and all-cause mortality in hemodialysis patients. However, the association between change in HDL over time and mortality has not been fully examined.

Objective: In a nationally representative cohort of incident hemodialysis patients who had available HDL data at baseline and 6 months after dialysis initiation, we studied the association of change in HDL-C during the first 6 months of dialysis with all-cause and CV mortality.

Association of Ultrafiltration Rate with Mortality in Incident Hemodialysis Patients.

Background/aims: Ultrafiltration rate (UFR) appears to be associated with mortality in prevalent hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, the association of UFR with mortality in incident HD patients remains unknown.

Methods: We examined a US cohort of 110,880 patients who initiated HD from 2007 to 2011.

Association of Pre-ESRD Serum Calcium With Post-ESRD Mortality Among Incident ESRD Patients: A Cohort Study.

Albumin-corrected serum calcium (cSCa) decline at late stages of chronic kidney disease and rise after dialysis initiation. Although hypercalcemia is associated with higher mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD), there are scarce data on the impact of pre-ESRD cSCa on post-ESRD mortality. Therefore, we used a large national cohort of 21,826 US veterans who transitioned to dialysis in all US Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities over 2009 to 2014 to examine the associations with all-cause and cause-specific post-ESRD mortality of (1) cSCa concentrations averaged over the last 6 months and (2) its rate of decline during the last 12 months before dialysis initiation.

Weekly Standard Kt/V and Clinical Outcomes in Home and In-Center Hemodialysis.

Background And Objectives: Patients undergoing hemodialysis with a frequency other than thrice weekly are not included in current clinical performance metrics for dialysis adequacy. The weekly standard Kt/V incorporates treatment frequency, but there are limited data on its association with clinical outcomes.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: We used multivariable regression to examine the association of dialysis standard Kt/V with BP and metabolic control (serum potassium, calcium, bicarbonate, and phosphorus) in patients incidental to dialysis treated with home (=2373) or in-center hemodialysis (=109,273).

Impact of Obesity on Modality Longevity, Residual Kidney Function, Peritonitis, and Survival Among Incident Peritoneal Dialysis Patients.

Background: The prevalence of severe obesity, often considered a contraindication to peritoneal dialysis (PD), has increased over time. However, mortality has decreased more rapidly in the PD population than the hemodialysis (HD) population in the United States. The association between obesity and clinical outcomes among patients with end-stage kidney disease remains unclear in the current era.

Lymphocyte Cell Ratios and Mortality among Incident Hemodialysis Patients.

Background: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been previously suggested as oncologic prognostication markers. These are associated with malnutrition and inflammation, and hence, may provide benefit in predicting mortality among hemodialysis patients.

Methods: Among 108,548 incident hemodialysis patients in a large U.