Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep;29(9):1770-7.
doi: 10.1093/ndt/gft472. Epub 2013 Dec 8.

Two-times weekly hemodialysis in China: frequency, associated patient and treatment characteristics and Quality of Life in the China Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns study

Brian Bieber  1 , Jiaqi Qian  2 , Shuchi Anand  3 , Yucheng Yan  2 , Nan Chen  4 , Mia Wang  1 , Mei Wang  5 , Li Zuo  6 , Fan Fan Hou  7 , Ronald L Pisoni  1 , Bruce M Robinson  1 , Sylvia P B Ramirez  1
Affiliations

Two-times weekly hemodialysis in China: frequency, associated patient and treatment characteristics and Quality of Life in the China Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns study

Brian Bieber et al. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Renal replacement therapy is rapidly expanding in China, and two-times weekly dialysis is common, but detailed data on practice patterns are currently limited. Using cross-sectional data from the China Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS), we describe the hemodialysis practice in China compared with other DOPPS countries, examining demographic, social and clinical characteristics of patients on two-times weekly dialysis.

Methods: The DOPPS protocol was implemented in 2011 among a cross-section of 1379 patients in 45 facilities in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Data from China were compared with a cross section of 11 054 patients from the core DOPPS countries (collected 2009-11). Among China DOPPS patients, logistic and linear regression were used to describe the association of dialysis frequency with patient and treatment characteristics and quality of life.

Results: A total of 26% of the patients in China were dialyzing two times weekly, compared with < 5% in other DOPPS regions. Standardized Kt/V was lowest in China (2.01) compared with other regions (2.12-2.27). Female sex, shorter dialysis vintage, lower socioeconomic status, less health insurance coverage, and lack of diabetes and hypertension were associated with dialyzing two times weekly (versus three times weekly). Patients dialyzing two times per week had longer treatment times and lower standardized Kt/V, but similar quality of life scores.

Conclusions: Two-times weekly dialysis is common in China, particularly among patients, who started dialysis more recently, have a lower comorbidity burden and have financial constraints. Quality of life scores do not differ between the two-times and three-times weekly groups. The effect on clinical outcomes merits further study.

Keywords: hemodialysis adequacy; hemodialysis frequency; outcomes; practice patterns; quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1:
FIGURE 1:
Frequency of dialysis sessions/week by country: (A) patient frequency categories, (B) distribution of facility % of patients dialyzing <3× per week. † Among facilities with at least 7 patients with non-missing frequency data.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Zhang L, Zhang P, Wang F, et al. Prevalence and factors associated with CKD: a population study from Beijing. Am J Kidney Dis. 2008;51:373–384. - PubMed
    1. Yao Q, Zhang W, Qian J. Dialysis status in China: a report from the Shanghai Dialysis Registry (2000–2005) Ethn Dis. 2009;19(S1):26–23. - PubMed
    1. Dialysis and Transplantation Registration Group. The report about the registration of dialysis and transplantation in China 1999. Chin J Nephrol. 2001;17:77–78.
    1. Zuo L, Wang M. Current status of hemodialysis treatment in Beijing, China. Ethn Dis. 2006;16:S2-34–31. - PubMed
    1. Lin X, Yan Y, Ni Z, et al. Clinical outcome of twice-weekly hemodialysis patients in Shanghai. Blood Purif. 2011;33:66–72. - PubMed

Publication types