Impact of twice- or three-times-weekly maintenance hemodialysis on patient outcomes: A multicenter randomized trial

AIM: Maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) frequency is associated with survival and complication rates. Achieving the optimal balance between healthcare, quality of life (QOL), and medical costs is challenging. We compared complications, inflammatory status, nutritional status, and QOL between patients with different MHD frequencies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a multicenter randomized trial of patients treated between May 2011 and August 2017 at 3 tertiary hospitals in Wenzhou. Patients were grouped according to their treatment schedule over 1 year: twice-weekly or 3-times-weekly. Complications, biochemistry parameters, and QOL (KDQOL-SFTM 1.3 scale) were assessed. RESULTS: One hundred forty patients were included aged 29 to 68 years (mean age, 50.9 ± 4.3 years). There were no significant differences in infection, heart failure, or cerebral hemorrhage complications between the 2 groups (P = .664). Pre-dialysis hemoglobin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, serum albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, calcium, phosphate, parathyroid hormone, and ejection fraction were similar in both groups (P > .05). After 1 year of MHD, both groups exhibited significant improvements in these parameters (all P < .05) with no significant differences between groups. Serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and weekly standard hemodialysis treatment adequacy did not improve after treatment (all P > .05), although a difference in BUN was observed between the 2 groups (P < .001). QOL was superior in the twice-weekly group than in the 3-times-weekly group (all P < .05), except for social support, which was slightly better in the 3-times-weekly group than in the twice-weekly group. CONCLUSIONS: Twice- and 3-times-weekly MHD resulted in comparable inflammatory and nutritional clinical outcomes and adverse events. QOL was better for the twice-weekly schedule. Even for patients with economic constraints, twice- or 3-times-weekly MHD should be selected with caution after consideration of BUN levels at baseline.