Home Dialysis Central update
[Vol.3, No.11, November 29, 2006]
We hope you all had a terrific Thanksgiving. We're thankful for home treatment options! You can share Home Dialysis Central with your coworkers and dialyzors by giving them our handy FREE POSTCARD HANDOUTS. Order yours today!
Requests for home dialysis info are rolling in
This month we looked at where our email has been coming from. Folks have asked about where to find PD and home hemo in 26 US states & territories (AL, AZ, CA, CT, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, MA, MD, MI, MO, OH, OR, NC, NJ, NH, NY, PA, TX, VA, WA, WI, and the US Virgin Islands) and 18 countries (Brazil, Caribbean, Ecuador, Guatemala, india, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay). Florida and Texas logged by far the most requests—so if you plan to start a new home program, these seem like good places to start!
New study finds better survival with short daily home hemo
Compared to USRDS survival figures for conventional (3 times a week) in-center hemo, 117 people using short daily home hemo had a significantly lower standardized mortality rate, found a study by Drs. Blagg, Kjellstrand, Ting, and Young. Read all about it here.
More dialysis: longer life
In 2003, researchers from the 12-nation Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns (DOPPS) study found that HD treatments shorter than 3.5 hours had a 33% higher risk of death. A new DOPPS paper reports that each extra 30 minutes of HD reduces the relative risk of death by 7%. Unfortunately, this study also documented mean US in-center treatment times of...3.5 hours. (Saran R et al, Kidney Int 2006, Apr;69(7):1222-8).
For Sarah, in-center hemo felt "like I was in prison"
"I couldn't eat a tomato, eat cheese, or drink milk. Now that she is doing nocturnal home hemo, Sarah's life is much more free. Read her story!
Will Medicare pay for my PD training?
Click here to learn the answers to this & other questions about Medicare payment for PD and home hemo.
Topic of the month: impact of home hemo on quality of life
In a guest article from the UK, Jonathon Hope explains how home dialysis improved his life, what he was afraid of before he started home hemo—and how his fears turned out to be ungrounded. Read his perspective.
Read all about it!
Review home dialysis-related news, courtesy of Nephrology News & Issues. This week's stories include:
- CORA grows to more than 300 ESRD clinics
- Most Americans unfamiliar with risks from CKD
- Aksys reports Q3 2006 financial results
- Baxter announces Renal Discoveries Grant winners
- Welcome to Pakistan, the world's kidney bazaar
Featured link: DOPPS
Even adjusting for age, gender, other illnesses, and many other factors, survival on dialysis is significantly better in Europe and Japan than in the US. The DOPPS team has been looking at differences in how dialysis is delivered to find out why—and what can be done to improve US outcomes. Learn more.
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