Current Status and Treatment Strategies of Hemodialysis-Associated Pruritus.

BACKGROUND: Hemodialysis-associated pruritus (HAP) is often treatment-resistant, and is a serious comorbidity that adversely affects prognosis and reduces patient quality of life through sleep disruption and depression.

SUMMARY: HAP can arise from a combination of several causes; accordingly, it is often resistant to treatment. HAP patients need the specific causes of their itching to be identified, with a comprehensive approach to treatment. We have implemented our own therapeutic algorithm, which covers cause specification, for HAP since June 2009. This resulted in a significantly decreased proportion of patients with itching (2016 vs. 2009: 77.3 vs. 96.6%), accompanied by a significant decrease in median visual analogue scale itching score (2016 vs. 2009: 21.0 vs. 53.0 mm), for patients treated for itching at our facility in October 2016. Key Messages: HAP patients need the causes of their itching to be specified, and to be treated with a comprehensive approach. Alleviation of itching is anticipated to improve patient quality of life and prognosis.