Can a PD Phone App Reduce Hospitalization?

Yes, finds a new prospective observational cohort study with structured nurse interviews. Among the 50% (n=72) of participants who chose to use the offered app, there were 62% fewer hospital admissions and 90% fewer hospitalization days. Patients were very satisfied with the app and most felt safer, while nurses appreciated the time efficiency.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-05-20)

Tags: PD Phone App, Hospital Admissions, Patient Outcomes, Remote Care, EHealth

Peritonitis with Manual vs. Device-connected PD

Japan, which uses device-connected PD, has one of the lowest PD peritonitis rates in the world. A retrospective review of 180 Japanese PD patients did not find significant differences between PD rates among those who made manual connections and those who used devices.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-05-20)

Tags: Peritonitis, Device connected PD

Glucose Exposure: Incremental vs. Full-dose PD

A 2-year retrospective study of 117 patients (46 incremental; 71 full-dose) with a 12 or more months of PD and 24-hour urine volume > 500 mL analyzed Q6-month cardiometabolic parameter trends: dry weight, BMI, HbA1c, cholesterol, serum glucose. HbA1c—lower in incremental PD users—was the only significant baseline difference between groups. The incremental group had significantly less estimated cumulative glucose exposure.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-05-20)

Tags: Glucose Exposure, Incremental, Full dose PD, Cardiometabolic Parameter Trends

Promising Ways to Increase Use of Home Dialysis

A scoping review of 43 studies categorized interventions to increase home dialysis uptake into three categories: education, service provision, and payment modifications. What worked best? Education aimed to enhance dialysis options knowledge and promote shared decision-making among patients, families, and clinicians and providing services like assisted PD. Payment intervention effectiveness depended on context.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-04-23)

Tags: Home Dialysis, Home Modality, Patient Education, Provision, Home Dialysis Uptake, Shared Decision making

Impact of Hurricane Helene on the PD Supply Chain

Hurricane damage to Baxter’s North Cove plant—which produces 60% of U.S. IV solutions—significantly disrupted patients’ ability to start or even continue PD. This analysis highlights healthcare vulnerabilities due to climate change.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-04-23)

Tags: Hurricane, Emergency Planning, PD Supply

Seniors, PD, and Inappropriate Prescriptions

No study has previously assessed what percent of people over age 65 on PD are receiving the correct doses of prescribed drugs. Unfortunately, this study finds that a large minority may not be.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-04-23)

Tags: Seniors, PD, Inappropriate Prescriptions, Correct Dose

Guidelines Drive European Home Dialysis Practice

A consensus meeting held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2023 investigated ways to improve home dialysis uptake, which was at a 10.5% prevalence and 13.3% incidence across Europe. Interestingly, national guidelines for advanced kidney care patient education drove uptake: home dialysis prevalence was significantly higher in countries with guidelines.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-04-23)

Tags: National Guidelines, Advanced Kidney Care Patient Education, Home Dialysis Prevalence, Home Dialysis Uptake, Europe

Home Dialysis + Person-centered Care

A scoping review identified 9,443 articles about the intersection of person-centered interventions (PCI) and home dialysis. The 16 that met the inclusion criteria included 13 PCIs; eight to involve patients in modality choice, six to involve them in their treatment, and one to involve patients in post-treatment-choice decisions. Five found a correlation between a PCI and the number of patients using home dialysis.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-03-13)

Tags: Home Dialysis, Person centered Interventions, Modality Choice

The Impact of Rural Outreach in West Virginia on Home Dialysis

Of 22,408 WV patients who started dialysis between 1965 and 2020, 13% overall started with a home modality—but this figure was 18% in counties that had a rural outreach kidney care clinic.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-03-13)

Tags: Dialysis, Home Modality, Rural Outreach

Home Dialysis in Finland

Prevalence of home dialysis has dropped in the past decade in Finland, despite its better survival compared to in-center HD. Semi-structured surveys for nephrologists, nephrology nurses, and patient associations endeavored to understand why. Nursing shortages and patient comorbidities received wide agreement as barriers, and clinicians believed that starting in-center reduces the odds of switching to home treatments later. For patients, financial burdens and impact on care partners were critical, as was “bringing hospitals home” or living in small spaces.

Read the abstract » | (added 2025-03-13)

Tags: Home Dialysis, Survival, Modality, Barriers