The Allocation of Vertical Attention in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease Receiving Dialysis

Objectives: Alterations of spatial attention can have adverse effects, such a greater probability of accidents. Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) receiving dialysis have stronger left-sided spatial attentional bias, suggesting that this disorder or treatment alters the brain networks that mediate spatial attention. The hemispheric networks that mediate the allocation of horizontal attention may also influence the allocation of vertical attention. However, the allocation of vertical spatial attention has not been studied in ESRD patients. Methods: Twenty-three ESRD patients receiving dialysis and 23 healthy right-handed controls performed line bisections using 24 vertical lines (24 cm long and 2 mm thick) aligned with the intersection of their midsagittal and coronal planes. Results: Hemodialyzed ESRD patients had a significantly greater upward bias than healthy controls. The magnitude of this bias was correlated with the duration of the kidney disease. Conclusions: The reason why upward attentional bias is increased in hemodialyzed ESRD patients is not known. Further research is needed to better understand the brain mechanism that might account for this bias, as well as its treatment. However, hemodialyzed ESRD patients and their families-caregivers should be made aware of this disorder to avoid accidents such as tripping

COVID-19 vaccination reduces mortality in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.

Patients with chronic kidney disease on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) have a very high risk of death in the course of COVID-19. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination to reduce the incidence of COVID-19 and the fatality rate in HD patients. A retrospective registry-based cohort study was performed in all HD adult patients in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Vaccinations were carried out from January to April 2021 with mRNA vaccines, either BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 with two-dose schedule. In the first analysis (2nd pandemic wave), 1,160 unvaccinated patients were included (59.7% males, 25.7% diabetic). In the second analysis (4th pandemic wave), 1,131 (59.4% male, 30.7% diabetic) individuals were included, 1,042 (92.13%) were fully vaccinated. Three hundred and fifteen HD patients (27.2%) were COVID-19 positive during the 2nd wave, and 6.9% (78/1,131) during the 4th wave. Within the fully vaccinated patients of the 4th wave, 60 were COVID-19 positive, 5.8 vs. 20.2% of unvaccinated COVID-19 positive patients in 2nd wave, respectively. COVID-19 incidence rate ratio (IRR) was 0.21 (4th wave-vaccinated vs. 2nd wave-unvaccinated) indicating a 79% reduction. The IRR between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients of the 4th wave was 0.28 in favor of vaccinated patients with 72% reduction. In the 2nd wave, 93 patients died as a result of COVID-19 (fatality rate: 29.5%). The fatality rate of fully vaccinated patients during the 4th wave was 6.7% (p = 0.004), while the fatality rate in the 4th wave within unvaccinated patients accounted for 11.1%. Significant clinical effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination was demonstrated in a multicenter study in HD patients