Gastro Issues Common Symptom Cluster Tied to Kidney Failure

TOPLINE:

A systematic analysis revealed eight distinct symptom clusters in patients with kidney failure, with gastrointestinal problems being the most frequent. Treatment strategies targeting symptom clusters may provide more benefit than those targeting individual symptoms.

METHODOLOGY:

• Recent studies have shown that patients with kidney failure experience a concurrent occurrence of several symptoms. Understanding these symptom clusters may facilitate the development of personalized strategies for managing kidney failure.
• Researchers conducted a systematic review, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses declaration standards, of eight cross-sectional studies published in English or Spanish between December 2002 and April 2022 to describe the symptom clusters in kidney failure.
• The articles were selected and evaluated independently by two researchers, with a third resolving any disagreement; quality assessment was conducted using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology initiative checklist.
• Data of adult patients with kidney failure or grade 4 chronic kidney disease (1767 men and 1322 women) who received various treatments, including supportive care, peritoneal dialysis, and hemodialysis, were analyzed.
• The articles used principal component analysis, exploratory factor analysis, or Pearson’s correlation coefficient to identify clusters of symptoms associated with kidney failure.

TAKEAWAY:

• Researchers identified a minimum of two and a maximum of eight distinct symptom clusters across studies, with gastrointestinal problems being the most commonly reported cluster; symptoms common to this cluster were nausea and vomiting.
• Other prevalent symptom clusters included neuromuscular symptoms such as muscle pain and limb numbness; sexual issues such as reduced libido and arousal difficulties; skin problems like dryness and itching; uremic symptoms characterized by the lack of appetite, feelings of tightness, weakness, or dizziness, and breathing difficulties; and cardiac symptoms.

IN PRACTICE:

“Knowing the symptom clusters in KF [kidney failure] constitutes the first step in establishing personal strategies for managing symptomatology in KF patients, instead of managing isolated symptoms. The treatment based on cluster symptoms is more effective and produces relief of associated symptoms,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Jaime Gomariz-Ruiz, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain. It was published online on December 27, 2024, in Heliyon.

LIMITATIONS:

The primary limitation was the inability to perform a meta-analysis due to the methodology used in the analyzed articles. Additionally, restricting article selection to Spanish and English languages potentially excluded relevant studies on symptom clusters of kidney failure from other languages.

DISCLOSURES:

This study did not receive any funding. The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.