Canadian Study Finds Kidney Transplantation Superior to Intensive Home Hemodialysis

A new Canadian study found kidney transplant patients had a 55% to 61% (depending on organ donor type) reduced risk of treatment failure or premature death compared with patients on intensive home hemodialysis (≥16 hours/week). Risk for hospital admission was higher for some transplant patients up to 1 year after transplantation, but lower in the long term compared with dialysis patients. The JASN study included 173 intensive home hemodialysis patients and 1517 transplant recipients (673 living donor, 642 standard criteria donor, and 202 expanded criteria donor recipients) who received care between 2000 and 2011 at a Canadian medical center.