Risks For Early Dialysis

It used to be that people with 1-2% of kidney function were put on dialysis.

More and more people with up to 15% kidney function are currently receiving dialysis and that number is increasing.

Dr. Steven J. Rosansky, senior research fellow at Dorn Research Institute of the William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina, "found that there is a remarkably higher risk of death in healthy people that are being put on dialysis at higher levels of kidney function". "People who started dialysis early, based on their kidney function were more likely to die in the first year than were those who started dialysis at a later stage of their disease: about 20 percent vs. 5 percent."

A recent study has shown that putting people on dialysis earlier has no beneficial effect and it may be harmful.

Physicians need to reexamine their recommendations.