Journal Watch

« Back to Most Recent

  • Healthcare System Change Increased PD and Home HD in Australia

    A lean-thinking framework and commitment of top leadership to change the system of care were used in a “Home before Hospital” approach to increase use of home therapies. Multidisciplinary Pathway, Outreach, and Hybrid working groups were established, and goals were set. A target of >30% for PD and home HD was achieved in 2 years, 35% within 3 years—and was still being maintained at 8 years.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2021-08-12)

    Tags: Peritoneal Dialysis, PD, Home Haemodialysis

  • Yet Another Study Demonstrates the Superiority of Home HD over In-Center

    A cohort registry study matched 181 home HD patients with 413 in-center HD patients in Australia and New Zealand by age, gender, and cause of ESKD. After adjusting for BMI, smoking, race, and comorbidities, home HD had almost half the death risk of in-center HD, as well as significantly lower phosphate levels. Both groups had similar rates of transplant and graft survival 6 months after a transplant.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2021-01-12)

    Tags: Kidney Disease, Haemodialysis, Home Haemodialysis

  • The Influence of Perceptions on PD Burnout

    A focus group study conducted with 81 PD patients and 45 care partners in Australia, Hong Kong, and the United States identified relentlessness and feeling overwhelmed by daily responsibilities as a factor in burnout. Building resilience and finding a new normal and meaning in other activities may be protective.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2020-12-10)

    Tags: Burnout; Dialysis, Peritoneal Dialysis

  • Patient and Clinic Factors Driving Home Dialysis in Australia/New Zealand

    Among 54,773 patients in 76 centers in the ANZDATA registry, an overall 45% (0-87%) were using some form of home dialysis. Males, people of color, and patients who were older, had comorbidities, experienced late nephrology referral, lived remotely, or were obese had lower uptake of home therapies. Smaller centers, those with shorter hours, and clinics who had fewer patients with permanent access had lower uptake as well.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2020-02-19)

    Tags: Uptake Of Home Dialysis, Dialysis Centers

  • PD and Swimming

    Australian nurses in 39 PD clinics conducted phone surveys. While only 77% of the clinics advocated swimming, nearly all had patients who did swim, mainly in sea water or a private pool. Covering the exit site and catheter with a waterproof dressing or ostomy bag was recommended, along with routine exit-site care. Several infections were linked with swimming.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2019-10-14)

    Tags: PD, Swimming, Exit Site, Waterproof, Infections

  • Frequency vs. Time in HD Survival

    Which matters more for HD--the number of treatments per week, or the length of each treatment? A retrospective registry study from the ANZDATA database looked at survival among 16,944 non-indigenous adult patients in Australia and New Zealand from 2001 to 2015. After controlling for frequency, patients with 5+ hour long treatments had significantly better survival than those whose treatments <5 hours. However, controlling for duration, increasing frequency did not boost survival.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2019-06-13)

    Tags: ANZDATA, Session Frequency, Session Duration, Survival, End stage Kidney Disease

  • Daily HD Practices in France and Australia/New Zealand

    Registry data from both regions compared all incident patients who dialyzed 5-6 sessions per week—both daytime and nocturnal—with one-to-one matching of French to Australia/New Zealand patients based on age, sex, and dialysis start year. While survival and transplant access were comparable, other intriguing differences appeared.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2019-05-15)

    Tags: Registry Data, Dialysis Interval, Survival, Transplant Acces

  • PD Technique Survival by Equipment Manufacturer

    An Australia/New Zealand study of all 16,575 new PD patients between 1995 and 2014 compared PD cyclers made by Baxter, Fresenius, or Gambro. Gambro users had the fewest days to technique failure among the 72% who had it, followed by Fresenius, and then Baxter.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2019-01-11)

    Tags: Peritoneal Dialysis Systems, Comparison, Technique Failure, Patient Survival

  • Regional Variation in PD Infection Prevention

    A PDOPPS analysis of surveys from medical directors caring for more than 11,000 patients from 170 clinics in seven countries (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Thailand, Japan, the UK, and the US) found variation from 63% to 100% in use of antibiotic prophylaxis for PD exit sites, with mupirocin used most often.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2018-08-13)

    Tags: Peritoneal Dialysis related Infections, Peritoneal Dialysis, Infections, Peritoneal Dialysis Outcomes

  • When to start PD after catheter placement

    A new randomized controlled trial included 122 new PD starts at two Queensland, Australia hospitals for 5 years. Participants were randomized to three groups, who started PD at either 1 week, 2 weeks, or 4 weeks after PD catheter placement. Leaks were higher in the 1-week group, while PD technique failure was higher in the 4-week group.

    Read the abstract » | (added 2017-05-09)

    Tags: Peritoneal dialysis, Catheter