Background: Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) often develop various health complications, including pulmonary dysfunction. Hemodialysis (HD) is a common treatment for these patients, but its effects on pulmonary function remain an area of investigation. This study aimed to assess the effects of hemodialysis on spirometry parameters in ESRD patients.
Patients and methods: This prospective study was carried out on a total of 60 patients with ESRD on HD. Spirometry parameters, including Vital Capacity (VC), Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in the first second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC ratio, Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF), and Forced Expiratory Flow between 25% and 75% of FVC (FEF 25%-75%), were measured 1 hour before and after HD.
Results: After HD, significant improvements were observed in several spirometry parameters. The median % change in VC was 9.92% (range: -27.05% to 47.66%), in FVC% was 11.68% (range: -16.5% to 47.37%), in FEV1% was 12.56% (range: -2% to 49.43%), in FEV1/FVC was 1.52% (range: -9.39% to 17.32%), in PEF% was 14.86% (range: -15.33% to 131.73%), and in FEF 25%-75% was 13.89% (range: -14.29% to 97.56).
Conclusions: In ESRD patients, pulmonary abnormalities, primarily restrictive and mixed disorders, were common. Spirometry parameters (FVC, FEV1, PEFR) were often below normal. However, hemodialysis led to notable improvements in VC, FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, FEF 25%-75%, PEFR, and ABG parameters (pH, CO2, HCO3, SO2).