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High Pain Burden Found in CKD, Dialysis, and Transplant Patients

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“Pain is common among patients with stage 3 or higher chronic kidney disease (CKD), those receiving dialysis, and kidney transplant recipients, a new study finds.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis involving 116 studies and 40,678 individuals, 60% had pain, 48% had chronic pain lasting more than 3 months, and 10% had neuropathic pain, Samira Bell, MB ChB, of the University of Dundee in Scotland and colleagues reported in Kidney International.

Overall pain prevalence was lower among kidney transplant recipients (46%) compared with patients undergoing dialysis (63%) and patients with nondialysis CKD (63%). Individuals on hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis had similar pain prevalence. Among patients with nondialysis CKD, those with stage 3 or 4 disease reported pain as often as those with stage 5 disease, probably because these patients received palliative care, according to the investigators.”

Read the full article, here.

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SCD Kidney Transplantation vs Dialysis Ups Survival in Older Patients

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“Patients aged 65 years or older on a waiting list for a kidney transplant may be better off waiting for a kidney from a standard criteria donor (SCD) than accepting one from an expanded criteria donor (ECD), according to recent study.

“The acceptance of an ECD transplant should be carefully balanced against the risks of continued dialysis while waiting for a better donor offer,” investigators Rachel Hellemans, MD, of Antwerp University Hospital in Edegem, Belgium, and colleagues wrote in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation.

The study included 3808 adult Belgian patients, of whom 3382 received a kidney transplant and 426 were waitlisted and remained on dialysis. The investigators divided patients into 3 age groups: 22 to 44 (1006 patients), 45 to 64 (2213 patients), and 65 years or older (589 patients). The median waiting time on the active waiting list for transplantation while on dialysis was longest for patients aged 22 to 44 years (22.4 months, followed by 18 months for those aged 45 to 64 years, and 11.7 months for those aged 65 years or older.”

Read the full article, here.

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American Kidney Fund Applauds White House Decision to Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines Directly to ESRD Patients at Dialysis Clinics

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“The American Kidney Fund (AKF) today issues the following statement in response to the Biden-Harris administration’s announcement that COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed directly to end-stage renal disease (ESRD, or kidney failure) patients at dialysis clinics:

“On behalf of the 555,000 Americans who rely on dialysis to survive, AKF is grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for announcing its plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccines directly to ESRD patients at the nation’s dialysis clinics. AKF recently met with Congressional and Biden-Harris administration officials to recommend this action. Vaccine distribution for ESRD patients at dialysis clinics will be a major step forward in protecting people with kidney failure from COVID-19 and in addressing disparities in our health care system that disproportionately impact the kidney patient community.”

Read the full article, here.

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Beta-blockers May Reduce Mortality Rate for Patients with Heart, Kidney Failure

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For patients with both heart and kidney failure, beta-blocker use was associated with decreased mortality rates within 1 year after dialysis initiation.

According to Hui Zhou, PhD, of the department of research and evaluation at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, and colleagues, beta-blocker therapy is generally thought to be beneficial to patients with chronic kidney disease. However, they contended that less is known about its impact on patients once they progress to end-stage kidney disease and must transition to dialysis.

Read the full article, here.

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Getting Real About Kidney Transplant Timelines

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“In this month’s BMC Nephrology blog, Editor Dr. Sumeska Thavarajah explores the difficulty of predicting pretransplant hemodialysis duration for dialysis patients cleared for transplanation, and discusses associated potential complications and consequences of this process.”

Read the full blog post by Dr. Sumeska Thavarajah here.

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