Patients with end-stage renal disease experience a slowing in the decline in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) two to four months after the start of dialysis, according to researchers in The Netherlands.
In a study involving 1,861 incident dialysis patients, GFR declined by 0.53 mL/min/1.73 m2/month in the period before dialysis initiation, but after two to four months of dialysis, the rate of decline slowed to 0.12 mL/min/1.73 m2/month, Dinanda J. de Jager, MD, Leiden University Medical Centre in Leiden, and colleagues reported online in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation.
For hemodialysis patients, the GFR decline attenuated from −0.51 to −0.14. For peritoneal dialysis patients, the decline attenuated from −0.55 to −0.11.
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In addition, among patients who started dialysis with a GFR at or above the median GFR at dialysis start, the decline attenuated (at three months) from −0.70 to −0.21. Among those who started dialysis with a GFR below median at dialysis start, the decline attenuated (at one month) from −0.73 to −0.04.
