title: Lower prevalence of chronic itch in haemodialysis patients on loop diuretics: results from GEHIS (German Epidemiological Hemodialysis Itch Study).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic itch (CI) is a very tormenting symptom in haemodialysis (HD) patients. GEHIS (German Epidemiological Hemodialysis Itch Study) is a representative cross-sectional study showing that current chronic itch (CI) affects 25.2% of haemodialysis (HD) patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We investigated drug intake and possible associations between CI and medications of HD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight hundred and sixty HD patients from a randomly selected cluster sample of 25 dialysis units (GEHIS) in Germany were investigated. Statistical analyses were performed using R (version 3.3.0) for Windows. Logistic regression was used to identify influential covariates for prevalence of chronic itch and intensity of itch.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Taking loop diuretics (furosemide, torasemide) was significantly negatively associated with the occurrence of CI in HD patients meaning that those who had received any type of loop diuretics were significantly less likely to suffer from less CI compared to those who had not taken them. There were no associations of CI with other medications. No correlation was detected between the intensity of itch and the intake of loop diuretics or any other medication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Loop diuretics may have an impact on the development of CI in HD patients. As it is most likely that a multifactorial origin may explain CI in HD, future research should also focus on the role of loop diuretics in CI, both on a clinical as well as on a molecular level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Social Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Dermatology, Ruprecht-Karls University, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayani
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biometry and Informatics, Ruprecht-Karls University, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kunzmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, DKD Helios Klinik, Wiesbaden, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mettang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Social Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Dermatology, Ruprecht-Karls University, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.affiliation: Fresenius Medical Care Deutschland GmbH, Bad Homburg, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Tschulena
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Social Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Dermatology, Ruprecht-Karls University, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weisshaar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011537:Pruritus / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D049994:Sodium Potassium Chloride Symporter Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D049994:Sodium Potassium Chloride Symporter Inhibitors