Uremic Pruritus in Hemodialysed Patients

—A Statistical Approach—

Abstract

Sixty-nine uremic patients requiring hemodialysis were evaluated with regard to the duration of hemodialysis, serum calcium, phosphorus, calcitonin, parathormone, urea nitrogen, creatinine, peripheral red blood cell count, eosinophils, uric acid, histamine fixability and dialyser. The rates of uremic pruritus in the hemodialysed patients in 1984 and 1986 were 79.2% and 62.9%, respectively. Statistically, only uric acid was significantly higher in the serum of the pruritic group. It appears that uricemia may be chiefly responsible for the uremic pruritus.