Older Patients Seem to Get Into Dementia From Dialysis
Moneylife Digital Team 10 August 2018
A new study has uncovered a higher rate of dementia among older patients after the start of hemodialysis. Mara McAdams-DeMarco, PhD (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and her colleagues analyzed information on 356,668 US hemodialysis patients aged around 66. The 1- and 5-year risks of being diagnosed with dementia after initiating hemodialysis were 4.6% and 16% for women and 3.7% and 13% for men. The risks of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease were 0.6% and 2.6% for women and 0.4% and 2.0% for men. The study, which is scheduled to appear in the next issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), also indicates that dementia in dialysis patients is linked with a higher risk of early death.
 
A previous research had suggested that the 10-year incidence of dementia is 1.0-1.5% in those who are 65 years of age and 7.4-7.6% in those around 75 years. Dr. McAdams-DeMarco and her team estimated that the 10-year risk of a post-hemodialysis dementia diagnosis is 19% for patients aged 66-70, rising to 28% for those 76-80. Also, older hemodialysis patients with a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer's disease had a two-fold higher risk of dying. According Dr. McAdams-DeMarco the study “wanted to shed light on the high burden of diagnosed dementia in older patients with kidney failure who initiate hemodialysis.” While the team was able to study diagnosed dementia, “there is a great need to also identify patients with mild cognitive impairment as well as undiagnosed dementia,” said Dr. McAdams-DeMarco.
 
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