“Longer life with less morbidity and with higher quality is possible with longer dialysis sessions performed at night in hemodialysis patients,” study leader and presenter Dr. Ercan Ok said.
In the study, 224 dialysis patients, average aged 45 were switched to overnight 8-hour dialysis for 1 year. “After an adaptation period of a month, all patients slept during the night without any complaint,” Dr. Ok noted.

When these 224 dialysis patients compared with conventional 4-hour thrice-weekly dialysis patients, results shows that the longer dialysis sessions produced far better results, with a 78% reduction in the mortality rate during the study.

Patients with overnight hemodialysis had controlled hypertension and reduction in medication. They also had a lower risk of hypotension during dialysis, according to Dr. Ok.

He also examines that serum phosphate levels range within normal values in the overnight dialysis group, “despite a 72% reduction in medications used to lessen phosphate absorption from the gut. High levels of serum phosphate are known to cause both bone disease and cardiovascular disease.”

Patients receiving 8-hour dialysis for renal treatment also show elevated appetite and increased BMI, accompanied by a rise in their serum albumin levels. Many of them returned to work and reported improved job performance and better cognitive functioning.

He acknowledged that this approach may not be for everyone. “To spend nights outside home may not be acceptable for family reasons. Our experience showed that 20% of patients are willing to be treated with this modality in our country; it may be different in other countries.”

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For men, the gap is not as big as in women. Male smokers have risk of heart attacks about six years earlier than non-smoker men.

“This is not a minor difference,” said Dr. Silvia Priori. “Women need to realize they are losing much more than men when they smoke,” she said.

Dr. Morten Grundtvig and colleagues from Norway based their study on data from 1,784 patients admitted with first heart attack at a hospital in Lillehammer.

Researchers found that, the average age is 72 in non-smoker men when they got first heart attack and 64 if they smoke. On the other hand women had first heart attack at an average age of 81 if they didn’t smoke, and at age 66 if they did.

After adjusting other risk factors for heart attack such as hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes, researchers conclude that the difference for women was about 14 years and for men, about 6 years.

Grundtvig said that smoking enhance the chances of early menopause, leaving them least protected against heart diseases. With growing rates of smoking in women, compared with declining rates in men, Grundtvig said that doctors expect to see increased heart attacks in women.

“Smoking might erase the natural advantage that women have,” said Dr. Robert Harrington, a professor of American College of Cardiology.

“The difference in how smoking affects women and men is deep,” Harrington said. “Unless women don’t smoke or quit, they risk ending up with the same dreadful diseases as men, only at a much earlier age.”

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