Under normal conditions, inflammation is a protective and physiological response to various harmful stimuli. However, in several chronic debilitating disorders, such as chronic kidney disease, inflammation becomes maladaptive, uncontrolled and persistent. Systemic persistent inflammation has, for almost 20 years, been recognized as a major contributor to the uraemic phenotype (such as cardiovascular disease, protein energy wasting, depression, osteoporosis and frailty), and a predictor of cardiovascular and total mortality. Since inflammation is mechanistically related to several ageing processes (inflammageing), it may be a major driver of a progeric phenotype in the uraemic milieu. Inflammation is likely the consequence of a multifactorial aetiology and interacts with a number of factors that emerge when uraemic toxins accumulate. Beside interventions aiming to decrease the production of inflammatory molecules in the uraemic milieu, novel strategies to increase the removal of large middle molecules, such as expanded haemodialysis, may be an opportunity to decrease the inflammatory allostatic load associated with retention of middle molecular weight uraemic toxins.
Sex and gender differences are of fundamental importance in most diseases, including chronic kidney disease (CKD). Men and women with CKD differ with regard to the underlying pathophysiology of the disease and its complications, present different symptoms and signs, respond differently to therapy and tolerate/cope with the disease differently. Yet an approach using gender in the prevention and treatment of CKD, implementation of clinical practice guidelines and in research has been largely neglected. The present review highlights some sex- and gender-specific evidence in the field of CKD, starting with a critical appraisal of the lack of inclusion of women in randomized clinical trials in nephrology, and thereafter revisits sex/gender differences in kidney pathophysiology, kidney disease progression, outcomes and management of haemodialysis care. In each case we critically consider whether apparent discrepancies are likely to be explained by biological or psycho-socioeconomic factors. In some cases (a few), these findings have resulted in the discovery of disease pathways and/or therapeutic opportunities for improvement. In most cases, they have been reported as merely anecdotal findings. The aim of the present review is to expose some of the stimulating hypotheses arising from these observations as a preamble for stricter approaches using gender for the prevention and treatment of CKD and its complications.
Inflammation is normally a protective and physiological response to harmful stimuli, but typically becomes an uncontrolled, maladaptive, and persistent process in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Through a deleterious cascade of poorly controlled reactions mediated by biologically active molecules (also called middle molecular weight uremia retention solutes), inflammation associates with a range of complications including cardiovascular disease and protein-energy wasting (PEW). Persistent inflammation, which is central to the conceptual etiological models of PEW and the malnutrition, inflammation, and atherosclerosis syndrome, induces and reignites processes leading to PEW in a number of ways including stimulation of both direct and indirect mechanisms of muscle proteolysis. Similar to other chronic diseases, inflammation in the uremic milieu is the consequence of multiple factors including comorbidities, such as infections. In addition, inflammation is further aggravated in ESRD by uremic immune dysfunction, inadequate renal removal of cytokines, and inflammatory responses to dialysis. It is plausible that only by disrupting this vicious circle(s) by acting on several levels of the inflammatory cascade rather than targeting single causes of inflammation will it be possible to improve the prognosis in ESRD patients. Accordingly, treatment of uremic inflammation and PEW require an integrated approach. In addition to lifestyle modifications, nutritional supplements, and drugs with anti-inflammatory potential, improved dialysis therapy using high retention onset membranes has emerged recently. This novel dialysis technique, also called expanded hemodialysis (HDx), may provide a more efficient removal of middle molecules involved in the cascade of inflammatory mediators with selectivity against albumin losses. Plausibly, the implementation of HDx, integrated with strategies blocking an excessive secretion of inflammatory mediators, may offer a new therapeutic approach to chronic inflammation and PEW in ESRD.
There is a high prevalence of sedentary behavior in dialysis patients. Better physical activity was consistently associated with younger age, lower presence of comorbidities and better nutritional status. Pedometers represent a simple and inexpensive tool to objectively evaluate physical activity in this patient population.
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