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To our knowledge this was the first study comparing gabapentin and levodopa efficacy for the treatment of RLS in HD patients. Our results suggested that gabapentin is an effective drug for the management of RLS in hemodialysis patients.

After two intramuscular (IM) vaccination protocols (40 μg at 0, 1, 2, and 6 months), patients who were unresponsive to hepatitis B vaccination were collected from three HD centers. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of intradermal (ID) and repeated IM vaccination protocols. Thirty-three of 639 HD patients were found to be unresponsive. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups: one to receive 80 μg ID and the other 160 μg IM vaccination protocol. Both ID (p=0.000) and IM (p=0.03) groups disclosed statistically significant seroconversion rates six months after the last vaccination dose. The seroconversion rate was 94.1% in the ID and 50% in the IM groups-showing a significant improvement in the ID group (p=0.011). A low-dose ID is superior to standard IM vaccination protocol and also more cost-effective in unresponsive HD patients.

The results suggest that MIS and MSPSS are the strongest predictors of depressive affect in HD patients. Further research is needed to understand the causal relationship between depressive affect and MICS in HD patients.