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Section Editor
Steve J Schwab, MD
Deputy Editor
Theodore W Post, MD
Last literature review version 18.2: May 2010 | This topic last updated: May 11, 2010
INTRODUCTION The decision to initiate dialysis in a patient with chronic kidney disease
(CKD) involves the consideration of subjective and objective parameters by the physician and the
patient. These parameters are often modulated by the patient's perception of his or her quality of
life and by possible anxiety about starting new therapy that is technologically complex.
INDICATIONS There are a number of clinical indications to initiate dialysis in patients with
CKD. These include [1-3]:
Pericarditis or pleuritis (urgent indication)
Progressive uremic encephalopathy or neuropathy, with signs such as confusion, asterixis,
myoclonus, wrist or foot drop, or, in severe cases, seizures (urgent indication)
A clinically significant bleeding diathesis attributable to uremia (urgent indication)
Fluid overload refractory to diuretics
Hypertension poorly responsive to antihypertensive medications
Persistent metabolic disturbances that are refractory to medical therapy; these include
hyperkalemia, metabolic acidosis, hypercalcemia, hypocalcemia, and hyperphosphatemia
Persistent nausea and vomiting
Weight loss or signs of malnutrition
However, these indications are potentially life-threatening and the patient is generally known to
have advanced CKD. As a result, most nephrologists agree that delaying initiation of dialysis until
one or more of these complications is present may put the patient at unnecessary jeopardy.
Only one study has reported the outcomes of patients with CKD who initiated dialysis only after
the onset of symptoms due to uremia. In this prospective cohort study of 233 consecutive
patients with advanced uremia, 151 were elective starters on dialysis, while 82 initially declined
dialysis [4]. Among the initial refusers, 55 percent developed a uremic emergency, while 48
percent were eventually established on maintenance dialysis. Compared with the elective
starters, one year mortality was significantly higher among the initial refusers (18 versus 7
percent). However, these results are confounded by lack of randomization and by three deaths
among the initial refusers, which resulted from treatment withdrawal.
Relative indications Since an important goal of dialysis is to enhance the quality of life as
well as to prolong survival, it is therefore important to consider less acute indications for dialysis.
These relative indications include anemia that is refractory to erythropoietic stimulating agents
and iron treatment, decreased attentiveness and cognitive tasking, depression, persistent pruritus
or the restless leg syndrome.
Unfortunately, the expressions of these signs and symptoms are variable in patients with slowly
progressive renal disease. The following are some of the factors that may contribute to this
variability.
Some patients accommodate to these symptoms and downgrade their sense of wellbeing as
renal failure progresses.
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Many of the medications given to patients with CKD have side effects that mimic uremic
symptoms. As examples, oral iron therapy often leads to nausea and centrally-acting
antihypertensive drugs can induce drowsiness independent of the degree of renal failure.
On the other hand, partial correction of anemia by erythropoietin may improve the patient's
sense of wellbeing without affecting the extent of uremia.
These factors illustrate the need to identify more objective markers of renal failure to lessen the
subjective component of the decision to initiate dialysis.
POSSIBLE INDICATIONS FOR EARLY DIALYSIS A number of factors have been proposed
as possible indications for early institution of maintenance dialysis. The two most widely
evaluated have been estimation of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and assessment of
nutritional status.
Estimation of GFR Although the filtration rate provides the best measure of functioning renal
mass, there are problems with each of the available tests used to measure the GFR. As an
example, many nephrologists previously used a target plasma creatinine concentration above 10
mg/dL (884 mol/L) [5,6]. However, progressive renal failure is frequently associated with
marked changes in the generation and elimination of creatinine [7]. In particular, inadequate
diet, increased tubular secretion of creatinine, and low muscle mass often limit the rise in the
plasma creatinine concentration, thereby masking the true degree of renal failure.
Use of the creatinine clearance is also limited in this setting. (See "Calculation of the creatinine
clearance".) The creatinine clearance generally overestimates the GFR due to increased tubular
creatinine secretion. Some patients with a seemingly "normal" plasma creatinine concentration
(<1.5 mg/dL or 132 mol/L) may have a GFR determined by inulin clearance as low as 20 to 25
mL/min/1.73 m [7]. One study, for example, evaluated 80 patients with CKD and a mean GFR of
22 mL/min [8]. The creatinine clearance was nearly twice the level of the inulin clearance.
The urea clearance is an even less accurate measure of GFR. The urea clearance underestimates
the rate of filtration due to a substantial degree of tubular reabsorption. It has been suggested
that, when GFR is less than 15 mL/min, the mean of the creatinine and urea clearance provides a
good estimate of GFR because the errors balance out. (See "Assessment of kidney function:
Serum creatinine; BUN; and GFR".)
Because of the limitations of the conventionally used tests, many investigators have sought more
accurate methods to measure the GFR. Although other markers of GFR, such as the clearance of
125-I-iothalamate, Cr-51-EDTA, 99m-Tc-DTPA, or inulin, are considered to be highly accurate,
they are not widely available and cumbersome to use for regular monitoring of renal function.
Several formulas that utilize easily obtained values have therefore been developed that help
estimate the GFR. These include the Cockcroft-Gault and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease
(MDRD) equations:
The Cockcroft-Gault equation is:
CCr, in mL/min
PCr [mg/dL] x 72
This formula takes into account the increase in creatinine production with increasing weight, and
the decline in creatinine production with age. The value obtained must be multiplied by 0.85 in
women who have a smaller muscle mass than men (calculator 1).
Using data from the MDRD study, the following is a simplified MDRD formula [9]:
GFR, in mL/min per 1.73 m2 =
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These data strongly suggest that malnutrition, as evidenced by a low plasma albumin and/or
creatinine concentration at initiation of dialysis for symptomatic uremia, is an important
prognostic variable. Other markers of malnutrition also may prove useful, including the plasma
concentrations of transferrin, somatomedin C, prealbumin, and cholesterol [19]. (See
"Assessment of nutritional status in end-stage renal disease".) In patients treated with CAPD, for
example, low serum prealbumin concentrations (<30 mg/dL) have been associated with increased
mortality risk [20]. A similar finding has been shown with maintenance hemodialysis (relative risk
of mortality was 4.4 when the plasma prealbumin concentration was less than 15 mg/dL) [9].
A simple determinant of nutritional status that can be easily monitored is protein intake,
assuming that the patient is not on a low protein diet. Patients with CKD on an unrestricted diet
tend to decrease their protein intake as the renal failure progresses. The magnitude of this effect
was demonstrated in a report that evaluated 90 patients with CKD who received no dietary
intervention [21-23]. A direct correlation was noted between the dietary protein intake and the
creatinine clearance (Ccr):
1.1 g/kg per day at a Ccr above 50 mL/min
0.85 g/kg per day between 25 and 50 mL/min
0.70 g/kg per day between 10 and 25 mL/min
0.54 g/kg per day below 10 mL/min
These changes, which presumably reflect anorexia induced by renal failure, question the safety of
restricting protein intake in patients with a creatinine clearance below 25 mL/min.
These decrements in dietary protein intake can be followed by assessing daily urinary urea
nitrogen and nonurea nitrogen losses. If daily intake is relatively constant and the patient is in a
steady state (as evidenced by a stable BUN and body weight), then urinary nitrogen excretion is
roughly equal to nitrogen intake. The former can be estimated from [24]:
Urinary nitrogen excretion
Nonurea nitrogen
If, for example, 24-hour urine urea nitrogen excretion is 8.2 grams in a 60 kg woman excreting
3.5 g of protein per day, then:
Estimated protein intake
62.5 grams
Thus, protein intake is approximately 1 g/kg per day. Moderate urinary protein loss can be
ignored, but each gram excreted above 5 g/day should be added to the above formula.
A useful measurement of protein metabolism is the protein equivalent of nitrogen appearance
(eg, excretion) normalized using the ideal body weight (nPNA) which is equivalent to the
normalized protein catabolic rate. Values below 0.8 g/kg per day are considered indicative of a
malnourished state. (See "Protein catabolic rate in maintenance dialysis".)
Effect of dialysis Although the initiation of dialysis improves appetite in symptomatic uremia,
there is a paucity of data showing that it is clearly associated with an improvement in nutritional
status. Two observational studies reported that initiation of dialysis was associated with clear
improvement in nutritional indices:
Over a one year period, different nutritional indices were evaluated every three months after
dialysis initiation among 50 hemodialysis patients [25]. Marked improvements were observed in
the serum albumin, serum prealbumin, nPNA, fat mass, and others. The degree of improvement
was dependent upon nutrition at baseline, with the lower the baseline value the lower its value at
one year.
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The 2006 National Kidney Foundation Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative (K/DOQI) for peritoneal
dialysis and hemodialysis adequacy published guidelines concerning the initiation of dialysis
among patients with renal insufficiency [2,3]. The work group suggested that the benefits and
risks of initiating renal replacement therapy should be considered in patients with GFR less than
15 mL/min per 1.73 m2 (stage 5 chronic kidney disease). Initiation of dialysis prior to stage 5
chronic kidney disease may also be required in patients with certain characteristics and/or
complications, such as declining health due to the loss of kidney function.
The 2005 European Best Practice Guidelines for peritoneal dialysis suggest that dialysis be
initiated before the GFR is less than 6 mL/min per 1.73 m2, with consideration of initiation when
the GFR is approximately 8 to 10 mL/min per 1.73 m2 [33].
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REFERENCES
1. Pendse, S, Singh, A, Zawada, E. Initiation of dialysis in Handbook of Dialysis, 4th ed,
Daugirdas, JT, Blake, PG, Ing, TS (Eds). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia 2007.
2. K/DOQI Clinical Practice Guidelines for Peritoneal Dialysis Adequacy. Am J Kidney Dis 2006;
47(Suppl 4):S1.
3. K/DOQI Clinical Practice Guidelines and Clinical Practice Recommendations 2006 Updates
Hemodialysis adequacy Peritoneal Dialysis Adequacy Vascular Access. Am J Kidney Dis 2006;
48(Suppl 1):S1.
4. Tang, SC, Ho, YW, Tang, AW, et al. Delaying initiation of dialysis till symptomatic
uraemia--is it too late?. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2007; 22:1926.
5. Man, NK. Initiation of dialysis: when?. Nippon Jinzo Gakkai Shi 1992; 34:1.
6. Obrador, GT, Arora, P, Kausz, A, et al. Level of renal function at the initiation of dialysis in
the U.S. end-stage renal disease population. Kidney Int 1999; 56:2227.
7. Levey, AS. Measurement of renal function in chronic renal disease. Kidney Int 1990; 38:167.
8. Shemesh, O, Golbetz, H, Kriss, JP, Myers, BD. Limitations of creatinine as a filtration marker
in glomerulopathic patients. Kidney Int 1985; 28:830.
9. Goldwasser, P, Michel, M A, Collier, J, et al. Pre albumin and lipoprotein (a) in
hemodialysis: Relationships with patient and vascular access survival. Am J Kidney Dis
1993; 22:215.
10. Balogun, SA, Balogun, RA, Evans, J. Age-related differences in renal function at onset of
renal replacement therapy in chronic kidney disease stage 5 patients. QJM 2006; 99:595.
11. Acchiardo, SR, Moore, LW, Latour, PA. Malnutrition as the main factor in morbidity and
mortality of dialysis patients. Kidney Int Suppl 1983; 16:199.
12. Lowrie, EG, Lew, NL. Death risk in hemodialysis patients: The predictive value of commonly
measured variables and an evaluation of death rate differences between facilities. Am J
Kidney Dis 1990; 15:458.
13. Owen, WF Jr, Lew, NL, Liu, Y, et al. The urea reduction ratio and serum albumin
concentration as predictors of mortality in patients undergoing hemodialysis. N Engl J Med
1993; 329:1001.
14. Comorbid conditions and correlations with mortality riskamong 3,399 incident hemodialysis
patients. Am J Kidney Dis 1992; 20:32.
15. Hakim, RM. Initiation of dialysis. In: Advances in Nephrology, vol 23, Grunfeld, JP, Back, JF,
Kreis, H, Maxwell, MH (Eds), Mosby Yearbook, Chicago 1994.
16. Misra, M, Nolph, KD, Khanna, R, et al. Retrospective evaluation of renal kt/V(urea) at the
initiation of long-term peritoneal dialysis at the University of Missouri: relationships to
longitudinal nutritional status on peritoneal dialysis. ASAIO J 2003; 49:91.
17. Blagg, CR, Liedtke, RJ, Batjer, JD, et al. Serum albumin concentration-related health care
financing quality assurance criterion is method dependent: Revision is necessary. Am J
Kidney Dis 1993; 21:138.
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GRAPHICS
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Odds ratio for death, adjusted for age, sex, race, and
underlying disease, according to the plasma albumin
concentration in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.
The likelihood of dying was inversely related to the
plasma albumin concentration, being greatest at a plasma
albumin concentration below 3.0 g/dL (30 g/L). All values
are signficantly different (p<0.001 to 0.03) from the odds
ratio of 1.0 at a normal plasma albumin concentration of
4.0 to 4.4 g/dL (40 to 44 g/L). Data from Owen, WF Jr, Lew,
NL, Liu, Y, et al, N Engl J Med 1993; 329:1001.
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