Home Hemodialysis Reduces Need for Blood Pressure Drugs

LAWRENCE, Mass.—Home hemodialysis patients who used the NxStage System One machine had a significant reduction in the need for anti-hypertensive medications over a 12-month period, according to study results released Oct. 27 by NxStage Medical Inc.

The results were taken from The FREEDOM study (Following Rehabilitation, Economics and Everyday-Dialysis Outcome Measurements), which  is a multicenter prospective cohort study designed to measure the clinical and economic benefits of daily home hemodialysis, as compared to conventional, thrice-weekly in-center hemodialysis.

The latest interim results from the FREEDOM study compared the number of anti-hypertensive medications that were prescribed at the patients' baseline (when they were on thrice-weekly, in-center hemodialysis), then at 4-months and 12-months after starting daily home hemodialysis. The study also looked at the number of patients who were not prescribed anti-hypertensive medications at those intervals.

The study found a nearly 50 percent reduction in the average number of prescribed anti-hypertensive medications over 12 months, according to NxStage. In addition, 33 percent of patients completely discontinued anti-hypertensive medications, and 56 percent of patients experienced a 50 percent or greater decrease in anti-hypertensive medications.

"In an attempt to see if the decreased morality observed in the study would remain after statistical adjustment, this analysis utilized a well-established formula with conservative assumptions to calculate a SMR. Even after correcting for these variables, patients using daily home hemodialysis therapy with the System One experienced a significantly lower rate of death when compared to similar patients from the USRDS database," Brent Miller, MD, an investigator involved with the study from Washington University in St Louis, said in a news release.

"This is further clinical evidence that more frequent home hemodialysis can lead to better clinical outcomes," Miller added. "These results should help energize patients, nephrologists, healthcare providers and public policy makers to continue to invest in and advance this therapy to alleviate the burden of dialysis."