Effects of sertraline in the prevention of low blood pressure in patients undergoing hemodialysis

INTRODUCTION: Intradialytic hypotension (IDH) is a major complication of hemodialysis, with a prevalence of about 25% during hemodialysis sessions, causing increased morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of sertraline to prevent IDH in hemodialysis patients. METHODS: This was a double-blind, crossover clinical trial comparing the use of sertraline versus placebo to reduce intradialytic hypotension. RESULTS: Sixteen patients completed the two phases of the study during a 12-week period. The IDH prevalence was 32%. A comparison between intradialytic interventions, intradialytic symptoms, and IDH episodes revealed no statistical difference in the reduction of IDH episodes (p = 0.207) between the two intervention groups. However, the risk of IDH interventions was 60% higher in the placebo group compared to the sertraline group, and the risk of IDH symptoms was 40% higher in the placebo group compared to the sertraline group. Survival analysis using Kaplan-Meier estimator supported the results of this study. Sertraline presented a number needed to treat (NNT) of 16.3 patients to prevent an episode from IDH intervention and 14.2 patients to prevent an episode from intradialytic symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the use of sertraline may be beneficial to reduce the number of symptoms and ID interventions, although there was no statistically significant difference in the blood pressure levels.