Association of Diabetes with Changes in Blood Pressure during Hemodialysis: A Secondary Analysis of the Frequent Hemodialysis Network Daily Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus is a common cause of kidney failure and is often complicated by autonomic neuropathy, which may have implications for blood pressure (BP) homeostasis during hemodialysis (HD). METHODS: In this post hoc analysis of the Frequent Hemodialysis Network (FHN) Daily Trial, we used random effects Poisson and linear regression models to estimate the association of diabetes (vs. not) with intra-dialytic hypotension (IDH) and peri-dialytic BP parameters, respectively. We tested for differential associations according to the randomized treatment (6/week vs. 3/week HD) and pre-HD systolic BP. RESULTS: Of the 244 patients with intra-dialytic BP data, 100 (41%) had diabetes at baseline. The mean age was 51 ± 14 years; overall, 39% were female. In adjusted models, diabetes (vs. not) was associated with a 93% higher risk of developing IDH (IRR: 1.93; 95% CI: 1.26, 2.95). There was no evidence that the randomized treatment assignment modified the association between diabetes and IDH (pinteraction = 0.32), but more potent associations were noted among those with higher pre-HD systolic BP (pinteraction < 0.001). Diabetes (vs. not) was associated with a lower adjusted nadir intra-HD BP (-4.2; 95% CI: -8.3, -0.2 mm Hg) but not with the pre- or post-HD systolic BP. CONCLUSIONS: Among participants of the FHN Daily Trial, patients with diabetes had a higher risk of IDH and lower nadir intra-HD systolic BP than patients without diabetes, even when undergoing HD up to 6 times per week.

Patterns of diuretic use in the intensive care unit.

PURPOSE: To inform future outcomes research on diuretics, we sought to describe modern patterns of diuretic use in the intensive care unit (ICU), including diuretic type, combination, and dosing. We also investigated two possible quality improvement targets: furosemide dosing in renal impairment and inclusion of an initial bolus with continuous furosemide infusions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this descriptive study, we retrospectively studied 46,037 adult ICU admissions from a publicly available database of patients in an urban, academic medical center. RESULTS: Diuretics were employed in nearly half (49%, 22,569/46,037) of ICU admissions. Mechanical ventilation, a history of heart failure, and admission to the post-cardiac surgery unit were associated with a higher frequency of diuretic use. Combination use of different diuretic classes was uncommon. Patients with severely impaired kidney function were less likely to receive diuretics. Furosemide was by far the most common diuretic given and the initial intravenous dose was only 20 mg in more than half of ICU admissions. Among patients treated with a continuous infusion, 30% did not receive a bolus on the day of infusion initiation. CONCLUSIONS: Patterns of diuretic use varied by patient-specific factors and by ICU type. Diuretic dosing strategies may be suboptimal.