The impact of underlying diseases-related drugs on the chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus in hemodialysis patients

Uremic pruritus or chronic kidney disease?associated pruritus (CKD?aP) is a frequent compromising symptom in end?stage renal disease. Despite the little attention paid to drugs used among hemodialysis (HD) patients, investigating medications used in this population of patients and examining the status of CKD?aP may lead to the identification of medications that improve or worsen the pruritus condition. We aimed to assess the role of underlying diseases?related drugs on CKD?aP in HD patients.

We performed a case ? control study on HD patients aged over 18 years old. The  emographic data and clinical parameters including HD parameters, drug history, dermatologic assessments, and laboratory examination were assessed.

We compared 128 patients with CKD?aP as cases and 109 patients without CKD?aP as controls. Cases were on the longer course of dialysis (44.69 ± 43.24 months for cases vs. 38.87 ± 50.73 months for controls; P = 0.02). In multiple analyses of variables related to CKD?aP, backward LR logistic regression revealed that only  torvastatin (P = 0.036) was considered to be a predictive factor associated with  KD?aP. Thus, the use of atorvastatin reduced the index of CKD?aP (95% confidence interval: 0.256–0.954, odd’s Ratio = 0.494).

Atorvastatin was associated with decreased frequencies of CKD?aP among HD patients in our study. This knowledge may guide further clinical trials to evaluate atorvastatin’s immunomodulatory and  nti?inflammatory effects on the CKD?aP in HD populations. Key words: Amiodarone, atorvastatin, chronic kidney disease, hemodialysis, pruritus, valsartan Address for correspondence: Dr. Narges Alizadeh, Department of Dermatology, Skin Research Center, Razi  ospital, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. E?mail: [email protected] Submitted: 20?Jul?2021; Revised: 05?Mar?2022; Accepted: 20?Jun?2022; Published: 25-Nov-2022Access this article online Quick Response Code: Website: www.jmsjournal.net DOI: 10.4103/jrms.jrms_633_21 How to cite this article: Azimi SZ, Alizadeh N, Ramezanzadeh E, Monfared A, Leili EK. The impact of underlying diseases