Whatever happened to home hemodialysis?
Advantages of home hemodialysis over center include better patient survival and rehabilitation, more patient convenience, decreased risk of hepatitis, and cheaper costs. Home dialysis places stress on the family and requires a great time commitment of the helper. Ninety-three patients began home dialysis training at our institution. Seventy-eight successfully completed training and five patients are still in training. Of the seventy-eight who completed training, fifty (64%) are still performing home dialysis for periods of from one month to 6 1/2 years. 10% received a kidney transplant, 13% died, and 13% have returned to a center for dialysis. Family stress was the major reason for return to a center in the ten patients who chose to do so. Even though home dialysis is superior to center dialysis, the percentage of patients being treated in the home in this country is diminishing. Possible reasons for this decline are discussed.
D005190:Family; D006437:Hemodialysis, Home / Q000191:economics / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D014481:United States