Determining the Effect of Hemodialysis on Shortness of Breath and Peak Expiratory Flow at the Onset and After Dialysis in ESRD Patients

Background: End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) can cause lung dysfunction by several mechanisms. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of hemodialysis on shortness of breath and Peak expiratory flow (PEF) at the onset and after dialysis in hemodialysis and ESRD patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 209 patients with ESRD who had been on dialysis for at least 3 months were evaluated. Shortness of breath and PEF were measured before and after dialysis. Data were analyzed significance level of less than 0.05. Results: According to the results, 53.1% of patients were male and 46.9% were female. The mean (SD) age of patients was 57.8 (14.3) years and the duration of dialysis was 37.7 (33.6) months. The mean (SD) PEF before dialysis was 267.9 ±106.3 which increased to 284.6 (113.3) liters per minute after dialysis (p value = 0.001). Patients with High-flux filtration had a higher mean PEF before and after dialysis and less dyspnea after dialysis. Spearman correlation showed a positive correlation between hemodialysis duration and PEF (r = 0.2, p value = 0.011) and positive correlation between the number of weekly hemodialysis sessions (r = 0.2, p value = 0.020) and the PEF with patients' age. There was a negative (r = - 0.2, p value = 0.006). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the PEF after dialysis increases in ESRD, which in patients using high-flux filters, in addition to increasing the PEF, decreases the severity of shortness of breath.