Home haemodialysis in Australia - is the wheel turning full circle?

In the mid 1970s, home haemodialysis accounted for nearly half of all patients on dialysis, both in Australia and elsewhere. The advent of both peritoneal dialysis (itself a home therapy) and satellite haemodialysis resulted in a gradual attrition in the use of home haemodialysis. Since 2000, the in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical journal of Australia 2010-04, Vol.192 (7), p.403-406
Main Authors: Agar, John W M, Hawley, Carmel M, George, Charles R P, Mathew, Timothy H, McDonald, Stephen P, Kerr, Peter G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Costs
Diseases
Health economics
Hemodialysis, Home - economics
Hemodialysis, Home - methods
Hemodialysis, Home - mortality
Hemodialysis, Home - trends
Humans
Kidney diseases
Kidney Transplantation
Patients
Survival Rate
Therapy
Urologic diseases
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Summary:In the mid 1970s, home haemodialysis accounted for nearly half of all patients on dialysis, both in Australia and elsewhere. The advent of both peritoneal dialysis (itself a home therapy) and satellite haemodialysis resulted in a gradual attrition in the use of home haemodialysis. Since 2000, the introduction of nocturnal home haemodialysis has begun to change this pattern in Australia, with a sharp growth in the uptake of home haemodialysis. Home haemodialysis, which enables longer hours and more frequent treatments than facility‐based (hospital or satellite centre) dialysis, appears to offer improved patient outcomes in observational studies; randomised studies are necessary to confirm these findings. Home haemodialysis is also a cheaper form of therapy than facility‐based dialysis. As newer, simpler and more user‐friendly equipment is emerging that will make home haemodialysis even more accessible and attractive to the consumer, we believe that this trend toward a greater uptake of home haemodialysis should and will continue.
ISSN:0025-729X
1326-5377
DOI:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03565.x