Scientific Reports (Jan 2018)

Novel haemodialysis (HD) treatment employing molecular hydrogen (H2)-enriched dialysis solution improves prognosis of chronic dialysis patients: A prospective observational study

  • Masaaki Nakayama,
  • Noritomo Itami,
  • Hodaka Suzuki,
  • Hiromi Hamada,
  • Ryo Yamamoto,
  • Kazumasa Tsunoda,
  • Naoyuki Osaka,
  • Hirofumi Nakano,
  • Yukio Maruyama,
  • Shigeru Kabayama,
  • Ryoichi Nakazawa,
  • Mariko Miyazaki,
  • Sadayoshi Ito

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18537-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Recent studies have revealed unique biological characteristics of molecular hydrogen (H2) as an anti-inflammatory agent. We developed a novel haemodialysis (E-HD) system delivering an H2 (30–80 ppb)-enriched dialysis solution by water electrolysis, and conducted a non-randomized, non-blinded, prospective observational study exploring its clinical impact. Prevalent chronic HD patients were allocated to either the E-HD (n = 161) group or the conventional HD (C-HD: n = 148) group, and received the respective HD treatments during the study. The primary endpoint was a composite of all-cause mortality and development of non-lethal cardio-cerebrovascular events (cardiac disease, apoplexy, and leg amputation due to peripheral artery disease). During the 3.28-year mean observation period, there were no differences in dialysis parameters between the two groups; however, post-dialysis hypertension was ameliorated with significant reductions in antihypertensive agents in the E-HD patients. There were 91 events (50 in the C-HD group and 41 in the E-HD group). Multivariate analysis of the Cox proportional hazards model revealed E-HD as an independent significant factor for the primary endpoint (hazard ratio 0.59; [95% confidence interval: 0.38–0.92]) after adjusting for confounding factors (age, cardiovascular disease history, serum albumin, and C-reactive protein). HD applying an H2-dissolved HD solution could improve the prognosis of chronic HD patients.