Intradialytic complications in patients with acute kidney injury

Abstract

Objective

To identify the prevalence of intradialytic complications in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and their associated factors and verify what were the immediate professional behaviors adopted by the team.

Methods

This is a quantitative retrospective study, carried out in the ICU of a university and public hospital, located in southern Brazil. All patients admitted to an ICU with a medical diagnosis of dialysis AKI between January 2011 and December 2016 were included in this study. Data were collected from medical records. A statistical difference with a p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results

A total of 76 patients were included, the majority aged between 41 and 65 years (n=44; 57.9%). All underwent intermittent hemodialysis. Of the total number of patients, 71 (93.4%) had complications during hemodialysis, with intradialytic hypotension being the most prevalent complication, affecting 51 (71.8%) patients. The most frequent immediate professional conduct for this complication was installation and/or control of vasoactive drug infusion (100% of cases). Age, mechanical ventilation, sepsis-related AKI, number and duration (hours) of dialysis sessions, as well as the time of starting dialysis were significantly associated with the frequency of intradialytic complications.

Conclusion

Patients had a high prevalence of intradialytic complications, and the most frequent immediate professional procedures aimed at reversing intradialytic hypotension and were performed mainly by the nursing team. Factors associated with complications were related to the severity of patients at the beginning of dialysis.

Keywords
Acute kidney injury; Renal dialysis; Critical care; Nephrology nursing; Intensive care units