Clinical characteristics of patients treated by hemodialysis

The main cause of death among dialysis is cardiovascular. The development of atherosclerosis involves several classical risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Knowing their characteristics allows planning therapeutic actions aimed at reducing mortality. The aim was to characterize clinically a sample of HD patients. Forty-nine patients on HD for at least 6 months were included. Individuals with malignant disease, active inflammation, in use of omega-3 oil or anticoagulants were excluded. Clinical data were collected from medical records. Albumin, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), phosphorus and potassium were measured. The average age of patients (27 men and 22 women) was 49.9 ± 14.3 years. The mean duration of the HD was 41.8 ± 35.9 months. About 50% were diabetic and 100% were hypertensive. Dyslipidemia was observed in 47% of patients and 51% had hypoalbuminaemia. Hyperphosphatemia was found in 77.5% and hyperkalemia was observed in 43% of patients. Negative association between TG and urea was found (r = -0.33, p = 0.03). The patients treated for a longer time for HD showed higher levels of phosphate. It is evident the presence of metabolic imbalance in patients treated for HD. Therapeutic interventions such as supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids may be important in reducing morbidity and mortality in this population