Transition from dialysis-requiring AKI to lifetime maintenance dialysis

Abstract

Acute kidney injury (AKI) has a poor prognosis and is associated with high mortality, especially in patients requiring dialysis (AKI-D). AKI-D reportedly has a poor in-hospital mortality rate of approximately 50%. Patients who survive have poor long-term prognoses and renal outcomes. Approximately 10% of patients with AKI-D continue to require dialysis therapy at the time of discharge from the hospital owing to persistent renal dysfunction; approximately 5% of patients require long-term maintenance dialysis. We analyzed 374 patients with AKI-D in our hospital over the past 10 years. We found that 4.8% of the patients required maintenance dialysis, similar to previous reports. Among the patients who survived, those on maintenance dialysis had a poorer prognosis than those who were weaned-off dialysis.