Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) reflects a patient's perceived disease burden, treatment effectiveness, and health status. Given the time burden and physiologic effects of hemodialysis, patients who spend dialysis time (9-15 h/week) physically or intellectually engaged may have better HRQOL. We characterized the intradialytic activities and explored their association with HRQOL. METHODS:In a cross-sectional study of 431 hemodialysis patients, we ascertained kidney-disease-specific quality of life, measured frailty, and surveyed participants about their usual active intradialytic activities (reading, playing games, doing puzzles, chatting, or other) and passive intradialytic activities (watching TV or sleeping). We used adjusted ordered logistic regression to identify correlates of the activity index (the sum of active intradialytic activities) and adjusted linear regression to quantify the association between the activity index and physical-, mental-, and kidney-disease-specific HRQOL. RESULTS:The 2 most common intradialytic activities were passive activities (watching TV = 87.9%; sleeping = 72.4%). Participants who were female (aOR 1.85, 95% CI 1.28-2.66; p = 0.001), nonfrail (aOR 1.70, 95% CI 1.06-2.70; p = 0.03), and nonsmokers (aOR 2.61, 95% CI 1.39-4.90; p = 0.003) had a higher intradialytic activity index after adjustment. Higher intradialytic activity index was associated with better mental- (0.83 points, 95% CI 0.04-1.62; p = 0.04) and kidney-disease-specific HRQOL (1.70 points, 95% CI 0.47-2.93; p = 0.007), but not physical HRQOL. CONCLUSIONS:Hemodialysis patients with more active intradialytic activities report better mental and kidney-disease-specific HRQOL. These results should be confirmed in a prospective study with a broader cohort of hemodialysis patients. Dialysis providers may consider offering patients with low levels of activity additional support and opportunities to engage in beneficial intradialytic activities.

BACKGROUND:Up to 31% of kidney transplant (KT) recipients experience early hospital readmission (EHR). We hypothesized that EHR among older KT recipients is higher than younger recipients due to increased comorbidities and higher prevalence of frailty. METHODS:We identified 22,458 older (age ≥65) and 86,372 younger (18 to < 65) first-time KT recipients (December 1, 1999 - December 31, 2014) using United States Renal Data System data. We estimated the association between patient-level characteristics and EHR (30 days post-KT discharge) with modified Poisson regression among older and younger KT recipients, separately. We estimated the association between graft loss and mortality and EHR using Cox proportional hazards. RESULTS:EHR was more common in older KT recipients (30.1 vs. 27.6%; p < 0.001). Risk factors for EHR that differed by recipient age included female sex, African American race, diabetes, smoking, dialysis vintage, donor age, and length of stay. Risk of graft loss associated with EHR was greater among older KT recipients (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.64, 95% CI 1.51-1.77, p < 0.001) than younger KT recipients (aHR 1.43, 95% CI 1.38-1.48, p < 0.001; interaction p < 0.01). However, the risk of mortality associated with EHR was greater among younger recipients (aHR 1.52, 95% CI 1.47-1.57, p < 0.001) than that in older -recipients (aHR 1.40, 95% CI 1.34-1.47, p < 0.001; interaction p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS:Older KT recipients are more likely to experience EHR and are at a higher risk of graft loss after EHR than younger recipients. Targeted interventions to prevent EHR and subsequent graft loss in this population should be identified.