The Effect of Blood Flow Rate on Dialysis Recovery Time in Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis

Post-dialysis fatigue reduces patients' quality of life and is also associated with cardiovascular events and mortality. Dialysis recovery time (DRT) is a measure of post-dialysis fatigue. Internationally, it has been found that more than a quarter of maintenance HD patients report \>6 hours of DRT. The interventions showing the most improvement in DRT involve increases in treatment time, suggesting that post-dialysis fatigue may be in part related to the rate of solute clearance. Solute clearance rate is just one part of extending dialysis time, and its effect on DRT in patients undergoing typical-length dialysis sessions is not known. There is scant evidence to guide blood flow rate prescriptions aside from meeting clearance targets. Blood flow rate reductions are easily-implementable interventions that would slow solute clearance rates and may have an effect on post-dialysis fatigue.