Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42668553›Full record

ArticleKidney medicine2026

Symptom Burden After Dialysis Initiation and Its Association With Hospitalization.

Devika Nair, Xuan Cai, Ron D Hays, Olalekan L Aiyegbusi, Rebecca S Frazier, Tamara Isakova, John D Peipert

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Kidney medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Devika NairDivision of Nephrology and Hypertension, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.
Xuan CaiCenter for Translational Metabolism and Health, Institute for Public Health and Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.
Ron D HaysDivision of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
Olalekan L AiyegbusiDepartment of Applied Health Sciences, Centre for Patient-Reported Outcomes Research, College of Medicine and Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Rebecca S FrazierDepartment of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC.
Tamara IsakovaCenter for Translational Metabolism and Health, Institute for Public Health and Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.
John D PeipertDepartment of Applied Health Sciences, Centre for Patient-Reported Outcomes Research, College of Medicine and Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Funding

UCLA Clinical Translational Science InstituteUL1TR001881 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI ARLEEN F. BROWN, ARASH NAEIM · 2016 to 2026
$118.1M
The Center for Health Improvement of Minority ElderlyP30AG021684 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI CATHERINE A SARKISIAN · 2002 to 2026
$19.7M
CSRD VA IK2 CX002595NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001881NIA NIH HHS P30 AG021684
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Rationale & Objective: Symptom burden is distressing for patients living with kidney failure, but there is limited information about the combination of symptoms and individual symptoms that most strongly predict health care use in this group. We classified and summarized patients' symptom burden levels and changes over time and estimated associations with hospitalizations among patients receiving incident hemodialysis. Study Design: Longitudinal, observational. Setting & Participants: Individuals initiating dialysis in the United States. Exposure: Kidney Disease Quality of Life-36 (KDQOL-36) measure. Outcome: First hospitalization after dialysis initiation. Analytical Approach: Latent transition analysis was used to identify symptom burden classes using the KDQOL-36. Cox regression models were used to assess whether individual KDQOL-36 symptoms and symptom burden groups were associated with hospitalization risk after dialysis initiation, independent of demographics and comorbid conditions. Results: 1,818 participants were Black (29%), were aged >65 years (59%), were women (42%), had diabetes (49%), and had hypertension (74%). Latent transition analysis identified the following 3 symptom burden groups: (1) low (low severity of all symptoms and kidney disease impacts), (2) moderate (high physical health impact and overall burden of kidney disease), and (3) high (high levels of all symptoms and kidney disease impact). After adjusting for patient characteristics, all KDQOL-36 scales except the Effects of Kidney Disease scale were associated with a higher hazard of hospitalization. Using the symptom burden groups, a high symptom burden was associated with a 20% increase in the hazard of hospitalization. A 1-category worsening in pain interference and in fatigue was associated with a 12% and an 8% increased hazard of hospitalization, respectively. Limitations: Findings may not generalize outside the United States. Conclusions: Pain interference and fatigue, as well as an overall symptom burden, are useful prognostic indicators in patients receiving in-center hemodialysis. Symptom burden should remain a treatment target in hemodialysis.

Indexed as

HemodialysishospitalizationKDQOL-36quality of lifesymptoms

Identifiers

PMID42668553
PMCPMC13524709

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