Project description:BackgroundDuring the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, many countries have instituted population-wide measures for social distancing. The requirement of patients on dialysis for regular treatment in settings typically not conducive to social distancing may increase their vulnerability to COVID-19.MethodsOver a 6-week period, we recorded new COVID-19 infections and outcomes for all adult patients receiving dialysis in a large dialysis center. Rapidly introduced control measures included a two-stage routine screening process at dialysis entry (temperature and symptom check, with possible cases segregated within the unit and tested for SARS-CoV-2), isolated dialysis in a separate unit for patients with infection, and universal precautions that included masks for dialysis nursing staff.ResultsOf 1530 patients (median age 66 years; 58.2% men) receiving dialysis, 300 (19.6%) developed COVID-19 infection, creating a large demand for isolated outpatient dialysis and inpatient beds. An analysis that included 1219 patients attending satellite dialysis clinics found that older age was a risk factor for infection. COVID-19 infection was substantially more likely to occur among patients on in-center dialysis compared with those dialyzing at home. We observed clustering in specific units and on specific shifts, with possible implications for aspects of service design, and high rates of nursing staff illness. A predictive epidemic model estimated a reproduction number of 2.2; cumulative cases deviated favorably from the model from the fourth week, suggesting that the implemented measures controlled transmission.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 epidemic affected a large proportion of patients at this dialysis center, creating service pressures exacerbated by nursing staff illness. Details of the control strategy and characteristics of this epidemic may be useful for dialysis providers and other institutions providing patient care.
Project description:IntroductionDialysis patients are often discharged from hospitals to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), but little has been published about their natural history.MethodsUsing electronic medical record data, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of nursing home patients treated with in-SNF hemodialysis from January 1, 2018 through June 20, 2020 within a dialysis organization across eight states. A dialytic episode began with the first in-SNF dialysis and was ended by hospitalization, death, transfer, or cessation of treatment. The clinical characteristics and natural history of these patients and their dialytic episodes are described.FindingsFour thousand five hundred and ten patients experienced 9274 dialytic episodes. Dialytic episodes had a median duration of 18 days (IQR: 8-38) and were terminated by a hospitalization n = 5747 (62%), transfer n = 2638 (28%), death n = 568 (6%), dialysis withdrawal n = 129 (1.4%), recovered function n = 2 (0.02%), or other cause n = 6 (0.06%). Increased patient mortality was associated with advancing age, low serum creatinine, albumin, or sodium, and low pre-dialytic systolic blood pressure (sBP). U-shaped relationships to mortality were observed for intradialytic hypotension frequency and for post- > pre-hemodialysis sBP frequency. Prescription of dialysis five times weekly in the first 2 weeks was associated with better survival in the first 90 days (HR 0.77, CI 0.62-0.96; p < 0.02).DiscussionProvision of in-SNF dialysis by an external dialysis organization enables discharge from the acute care setting for appropriate treatment with increased nursing contact time in an otherwise under-resourced environment. SNF ESRD patient clinical characteristics and outcomes are extensively characterized for the first time.
Project description:IntroductionThere are limited data on the effects of COVID-19 on peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. This study aimed to describe the impact of COVID-19 on the PD population.MethodsA monocentric retrospective observational study was conducted on 146 consecutive PD patients followed from January 2020 to March 2022 at the University Hospital of Modena, Italy.ResultsTwenty-seven (18.4%) PD patients experienced 29 episodes of SARS-CoV-2 infection, corresponding to an incidence rate of 0.16 episodes/patient-year. Median age of COVID-19 patients was 60.4 (interquartile range [IQR] 50.2-66.5) years. In unvaccinated patients (n. 9), COVID-19 was always symptomatic and manifested with fever (100%) and cough (77.7%). COVID-19 caused hospital admission of three (33.3%) patients and two (22.2%) died of septic shock. COVID-19 was symptomatic in 83.3% of vaccinated subjects (n.18) and manifested with fever (61.1%) and cough (55.6%). Hospital admission occurred in 27.8% of the subjects but all were discharged home. Median SARS-CoV-2 shedding was 32 and 26 days in the unvaccinated and vaccinated groups, respectively. At the end of the follow-up, COVID-19 triggered the shift from PD to HD in two subjects without affecting the residual renal function of the remaining patients. Overall, COVID-19 caused an excess death of 22.2%. COVID-19 vaccination refusal accounted for only 1.6% in this cohort of patients.ConclusionCOVID-19 incident rate was 0.16 episodes/patient-year in the PD population. About one-third of the patients were hospitalized for severe infection. Fatal outcome occurred in two (7.4%) unvaccinated patients. A low vaccination refusal rate was observed in this population.
Project description:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, technological advancements, regulatory waivers, and user acceptance have converged to boost telehealth activities. Due to the state of emergency, regulatory waivers in the United States have made it possible for providers to deliver and bill for services across state lines for new and established patients through Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)- and non-HIPAA-compliant platforms with home as the originating site and without geographic restrictions. Platforms have been developed or purchased to perform videoconferencing, and interdisciplinary dialysis teams have adapted to perform virtual visits. Telehealth experiences and challenges encountered by dialysis providers, clinicians, nurses, and patients have exposed health care disparities in areas such as access to care, bandwidth connectivity, availability of devices to perform telehealth, and socioeconomic and language barriers. Future directions in telehealth use, quality measures, and research in telehealth use need to be explored. Telehealth during the public health emergency has changed the practice of health care, with the post-COVID-19 world unlikely to resemble the prior era. The future impact of telehealth in patient care in the United States remains to be seen, especially in the context of the Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative.
Project description:Rationale & objectiveDialysis patients judge health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as an essential outcome. Remarkably, little is known about HRQoL differences between home dialysis and in-center hemodialysis (HD) patients worldwide.Study designSystematic review and meta-analysis.Setting & study populationsSearch strategies were performed on the Cochrane Library, Pubmed, and EMBASE databases between 2007 and 2019. Home dialysis was defined as both peritoneal dialysis and home HD.Selection criteria for studiesRandomized controlled trials and observational studies that compared HRQoL in home dialysis patients versus in-center HD patients.Data extractionThe data extracted by 2 authors included HRQoL scores of different questionnaires, dialysis modality, and subcontinent.Analytical approachData were pooled using a random-effects model and results were expressed as standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% CIs. Heterogeneity was explored using subgroup analyses.ResultsForty-six articles reporting on 41 study populations were identified. Most studies were cross-sectional in design (90%), conducted on peritoneal dialysis patients (95%), and used the 12-item or 36-item Short-Form Health Survey questionnaires (83%). More than half the studies showed moderate or high risk of bias. Pooled analysis of 4,158 home dialysis patients and 7,854 in-center HD patients showed marginally better physical HRQoL scores in home dialysis patients compared with in-center HD patients (SMD, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.04 to 0.24), although heterogeneity was high (I 2>80%). In a subgroup analysis, Western European home dialysis patients had higher physical HRQoL scores (SMD, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.61), while home dialysis patients from Latin America had lower physical scores (SMD, -0.20; 95% CI, -0.28 to -0.12). Mental HRQoL showed no difference in all analyses.LimitationsNo randomized controlled trials were found and high heterogeneity among studies existed.ConclusionsAlthough pooled data showed marginally better physical HRQoL for home dialysis patients, the quality of design of the included studies was poor. Large prospective studies with adequate adjustments for confounders are necessary to establish whether home dialysis results in better HRQoL.Trial registrationPROSPERO 95985.
Project description:Rationale & objectiveDuring the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, patients receiving maintenance dialysis are a highly vulnerable population due to their comorbidities and circumstances that limit physical distancing during treatment. This study sought to characterize the risk factors for and outcomes following COVID-19 in this population.Study designRetrospective cohort study.Setting & participantsMaintenance dialysis patients in clinics of a midsize national dialysis provider that had at least 1 patient who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from February to June 2020.PredictorsDemographics, dialysis characteristics, residence in a congregated setting, comorbid conditions, measurements of frailty, and use of selected medications.OutcomesCOVID-19, defined as having a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result, and all-cause mortality among those with COVID-19.Analytical approachLogistic regression analyses conducted to identify clinical characteristics associated with COVID-19 and risk factors associated with mortality among patients following COVID-19.Results438 of 7948 (5.5%) maintenance dialysis patients developed COVID-19. Male sex, Black race, in-center dialysis (vs home dialysis), treatment at an urban clinic, residence in a congregate setting, and greater comorbidity were associated with contracting COVID-19. Odds of COVID-19 were 17-fold higher for those residing in a congregated setting (odds ratio [OR], 17.10 [95% CI, 13.51-21.54]). Of the 438 maintenance dialysis patients with COVID-19, 109 (24.9%) died. Older age, heart disease, and markers of frailty were associated with mortality.LimitationsNo distinction was detected between symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positivity, with asymptomatic screening limited by testing capacity during this initial COVID-19 surge period.ConclusionsCOVID-19 is common among patients receiving maintenance dialysis, particularly those residing in congregate settings. Among maintenance dialysis patients with COVID-19, mortality is high, exceeding 20%.
Project description:Endophthalmitis is a severe eye infection leading to disabling outcome. Because there were only a few case report illustrating endophthalmitis in chronic dialysis patient, we would like to investigate the epidemiology and clinical features of endophthalmitis in chronic dialysis patient in a tertiary referral center.We searched the health information system in the study hospital with ICD9 encoding endophthalmitis during Jan. 2002 to Dec. 2015. A total of 32 episodes of endophthalmitis occurred in chronic dialysis patients. We performed an 1:2 case-control match on propensity score. The demographic features, clinical manifestation, infection focus and visual outcome were recorded.Of the total of 32 patients, 25 were classified as endogenous endophthalmitis and another seven were exogenous. Most patients presented with ophthalmalgia (n = 32, 100%) and periocular swelling (n = 31, 96.8%), whereas half of the patients suffered blurred vision (n = 16, 50%). Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most frequent causative pathogens. Dialysis vascular infection was also a possible unique focus for bacteremia. The visual acuity of the endogenous groups were less likely to improve in the chronic dialysis patients compared with control group.This is the first and the largest case series focusing on endophthalmitis in chronic dialysis patients. Our study showed different pathogen spectrum, an unique bacterial origin and worse visual outcome in these group of patients. Prompt referral to ophthalmologists when the patients present with suspicious symptoms (blurred vision, ophthalmalgia and periocular swelling) is crucial.
Project description:Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is an important home-based treatment for kidney failure and accounts for 11% of all dialysis and 9% of all kidney replacement therapy globally. Although PD is available in 81% of countries, this provision ranges from 96% in high-income countries to 32% in low-income countries. Compared with haemodialysis, PD has numerous potential advantages, including a simpler technique, greater feasibility of use in remote communities, generally lower cost, lesser need for trained staff, fewer management challenges during natural disasters, possibly better survival in the first few years, greater ability to travel, fewer dietary restrictions, better preservation of residual kidney function, greater treatment satisfaction, better quality of life, better outcomes following subsequent kidney transplantation, delayed need for vascular access (especially in small children), reduced need for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, and lower risk of blood-borne virus infections and of SARS-CoV-2 infection. PD outcomes have been improving over time but with great variability, driven by individual and system-level inequities and by centre effects; this variation is exacerbated by a lack of standardized outcome definitions. Potential strategies for outcome improvement include enhanced standardization, monitoring and reporting of PD outcomes, and the implementation of continuous quality improvement programmes and of PD-specific interventions, such as incremental PD, the use of biocompatible PD solutions and remote PD monitoring.
Project description:Background and objectivesAssisted peritoneal dialysis is a treatment option for individuals with barriers to self-care who wish to receive home dialysis, but previous research suggests that this treatment modality is associated with a higher rate of hospitalization. The objective of our study was to determine whether assisted peritoneal dialysis has a different rate of hospital days compared to in-center hemodialysis.Design, setting, participants, & measurementsWe conducted a multicenter, retrospective cohort study by linking a quality assurance dataset to administrative health data in Ontario, Canada. Subjects were accrued between January 1, 2004 and July 9, 2013. Individuals were grouped into assisted peritoneal dialysis (family or home care assisted) or in-center hemodialysis on the basis of their first outpatient dialysis modality. Inverse probability of treatment weighting using a propensity score was used to create a sample in which the baseline covariates were well balanced.ResultsThe study included 872 patients in the in-center hemodialysis group and 203 patients in the assisted peritoneal dialysis group. Using an intention to treat approach, patients on assisted peritoneal dialysis had a similar hospitalization rate of 11.1 d/yr (95% confidence interval, 9.4 to 13.0) compared with 12.9 d/yr (95% confidence interval, 10.3 to 16.1) in the hemodialysis group (P=0.19). Patients on assisted peritoneal dialysis were more likely to be hospitalized for dialysis-related reasons (admitted for 2.4 d/yr [95% confidence interval, 1.8 to 3.2] compared with 1.6 d/yr [95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 2.3] in the hemodialysis group; P=0.04). This difference was partly explained by more hospital days because of peritonitis. Modality switching was associated with high rates of hospital days per year.ConclusionsAssisted peritoneal dialysis was associated with similar rates of all-cause hospitalization compared with in-center hemodialysis. Patients on assisted peritoneal dialysis who experienced peritonitis and technique failure had high rates of hospitalization.