Effects of Daily Home Hemodialysis on Circulation, Mental Functions, and Quality of Life

Although conventional hemodialysis has faced many technical improvements in recent years, a great deal of end-stage renal disease patients, treated with this modality, have suboptimal or high blood pressure, and suffer poor quality of life. Daily hemodialysis has been reported to improve both, but the pathophysiological background is poorly understood. Patients were studied before and after 6 months of daily (i.e.6 times a week) home hemodialysis, and again after two months of conventional (i.e. thrice weekly) hemodialysis. We measured the effects of daily dialysis (compared with conventional dialysis) on blood pressure, cardiac output, extracellular fluid volume, plasma renin activity, sympathetic nervous system activity (through MSNA), the electroencephalogram (EEG), neurocognitive functioning (speed of information processing, memory, executive functioning, and attention), quality of life, and nutritional status