Although intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN) is a method used widely to combat protein-calorie malnutrition in hemodialysis patients, its effect on survival has not been thoroughly studied. We conducted a prospective, randomized trial in which 186 malnourished hemodialysis patients received oral nutritional supplements with or without 1 year of IDPN. IDPN did not improve 2-year mortality (primary end point), hospitalization rate, Karnofsky score, body mass index, or laboratory markers of nutritional status. Instead, both groups demonstrated improvement in body mass index and the nutritional parameters serum albumin and prealbumin (P Ͻ 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that an increase in prealbumin of Ͼ30 mg/L within 3 months, a marker of nutritional improvement, independently predicted a 54% decrease in 2-year mortality, as well as reduced hospitalizations and improved general well-being as measured by the Karnofsky score. Therefore, although we found no definite advantage of adding IDPN to oral nutritional supplementation, this is the first prospective study demonstrating that an improvement in prealbumin during nutritional therapy is associated with a decrease in morbidity and mortality in malnourished hemodialysis patients.

The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of COVID-19 disease in the French national population of dialysis patients, their course of illness and to identify the risk factors associated with mortality. Our study included all patients on dialysis recorded in the French REIN Registry in April 2020. Clinical characteristics at last follow-up and the evolution of COVID-19 illness severity over time were recorded for diagnosed cases (either suspicious clinical symptoms, characteristic signs on the chest scan or a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 1,621 infected patients were reported on the REIN registry from March 16th, 2020 to May 4th, 2020. Of these, 344 died. The prevalence of COVID-19 patients varied from less than 1% to 10% between regions. The probability of being a case was higher in males, patients with diabetes, those in need of assistance for transfer or treated at a self-care unit. Dialysis at home was associated with a lower probability of being infected as was being a smoker, a former smoker, having an active malignancy, or peripheral vascular disease. Mortality in diagnosed cases (21%) was associated with the same causes as in the general population. Higher age, hypoalbuminemia and the presence of an ischemic heart disease were statistically independently associated with a higher risk of death. Being treated at a selfcare unit was associated with a lower risk. Thus, our study showed a relatively low frequency of COVID-19 among dialysis patients contrary to what might have been assumed.

This study showed life-threatening undernutrition in 20-36% of the studied population, according to nutritional parameters. Protein intake (estimated by nPCR) and dialysis efficacy (estimated by dialysis time and KtV) appeared to be major determinants of nutritional status in this population.

♦ Background: Previous small studies have reported favorable results of peritoneal dialysis (PD) in the setting of chronic refractory heart failure (CRHF). We evaluated the impact of PD in a larger cohort of patients with CHRF where end-stage renal disease was excluded. ♦ Methods: All patients who received PD therapy for CRHF between January 1995 and December 2010 in two medical centers in France were included in this retrospective study. Baseline characteristics were compared with clinical parameters during the first year after initiation of PD. Mortality, safety, and sustainability of PD were also analyzed. ♦ Results: The 126 patients included had a mean age of 72 ± 11 years and an estimated glomerular filtration rate of 33.5 ± 15.1 mL/min/1.73 m2. Mean time on PD was 16 ± 16.6 months. During the first year, patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 30% or less experienced improvement in cardiac function (30% ± 10% vs 20% ± 6%, p < 0.0001). We observed a significant reduction in the number of days of hospitalization for acute decompensated heart failure after PD initiation (3.3 ± 2.6 days/patient-month vs 0.3 ± 0.5 days/patient-month, p < 0.0001). One-year mortality was 42%. ♦ Conclusions: In CRHF, PD significantly reduces the number of days of hospitalization for acute heart failure. Improved LVEF may have led to the comparatively good 1-year survival in this cohort.

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