Abstract
Dementia has been reported to be one of causes of bleeding accidents during hemodialysis. This study clarified bleeding accidents in dementia patients after completion of hemodialysis. Between 2003 and 2007, hemodialysis was performed on 225 patients (including 128 inpatients) at Sanai Memorial Soga Hospital. Bleeding occurred 17 times in 15 patients (10%) among 145 patients without dementia while 84 bleeding episodes occurred in 29 patients (36%) among 80 patients with dementia indicating that bleeding occurred more often in patients with dementia (χ2 test, p<0.001). Of 101 bleeding episodes in this period, bleeding occurred 43 times during hemodialysis and 58 times after hemodialysis. Medical accidents involving massive bleeding occurred once during hemodialysis in a dialysis unit and 8 times after dialysis in inpatients with dementia in wards and one of these accidents was fatal. All massive bleeding accidents occurred in dementia patients who did not call nurses when bleeding began. This study indicates that dementia is the major cause of bleeding accidents and medical staff must carefully monitor these patients even after hemodialysis.
