An international study of patient compliance with hemodialysis

International differences in compliance of patients undergoing hemodialysis are poorly characterized and could contribute to international survival differences.

To compare international differences in patient compliance with hemodialysis treatments.

A prospective observational study of patients undergoing hemodialysis in 1995 and a cross-sectional survey of health care professionals caring for hemodialyzed patients in 1996.

Four dialysis centers in the southeastern United States with 415 patients undergoing hemodialysis, 1 center in Sweden with 84 patients, and 4 centers in Japan with 194 patients participated in the prospective observational study. In the cross-sectional survey, nurses and nephrologists from the United States (n = 49), Japan (n = 21), and Sweden (n = 16) responded to questions regarding the compliance of their patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Percentage of patients who miss a dialysis treatment and number of missed dialysis treatments.

Of 415 US patients, 147 missed 699 treatments over a 6-month period (28.1 missed treatments per 100 patient-months or 2.3% of all prescribed treatments). During a 3-month period, there were 0 missed treatments per 100 patient-months for patients from Japan and 0 missed treatments per 100 patient-months for patients from Sweden (P<.001). In the cross-sectional survey, the mean (SD) estimated percentage of patients missing a treatment per month was 4% (3%) for the United States, 0% for Japan, and 0.1% (3%) for Sweden (P<.001).

Noncompliance is much more common in US patients undergoing hemodialysis than Swedish and Japanese patients. The implications of these results for international differences in survival deserve further study.