title: Long interdialytic interval and mortality among patients receiving hemodialysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis have limited tolerance of metabolic and volume-related deviations from normal ranges; in addition, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease is high among such patients. Given these problems, we hypothesized that a long interdialytic interval is associated with adverse events in patients receiving hemodialysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 32,065 participants in the End-Stage Renal Disease Clinical Performance Measures Project, a nationally representative sample of U.S. patients receiving hemodialysis three times weekly, at the end of calendar years 2004 through 2007. We compared rates of death and cardiovascular-related hospital admissions on the day after the long (2-day) interdialytic interval with rates on other days.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the cohort was 62.2 years; 24.2% of the patients had been receiving dialysis treatment for 1 year or less. Over a mean follow-up interval of 2.2 years, the following event rates were higher on the day after the long interval than on other days: all-cause mortality (22.1 vs. 18.0 deaths per 100 person-years, P<0.001), mortality from cardiac causes (10.2 vs. 7.5, P<0.001), infection-related mortality (2.5 vs. 2.1, P = 0.007), mortality from cardiac arrest (1.3 vs. 1.0, P = 0.004), mortality from myocardial infarction (6.3 vs. 4.4, P<0.001), and admissions for myocardial infarction (6.3 vs. 3.9, P<0.001), congestive heart failure (29.9 vs. 16.9, P<0.001), stroke (4.7 vs. 3.1, P<0.001), dysrhythmia (20.9 vs. 11.0, P<0.001), and any cardiovascular event (44.2 vs. 19.7, P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The long (2-day) interdialytic interval is a time of heightened risk among patients receiving hemodialysis. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.).
authors: United States Renal Data System, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55404, USA.
authors: Robert N
authors: RN
authors: Foley
authors: David T
authors: DT
authors: Gilbertson
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Murray
authors: Allan J
authors: AJ
authors: Collins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States