Pre-dialysis levels of inflammation and endotoxin in people receiving hemodialysis are not associated with blood pressure variability

There are multiple risk factors for inflammation in dialysis. One potential cause is the presence of circulating levels of Gram-negative bacteria-derived endotoxin which is a strong inducer of inflammation. Gut-associated endotoxin may enter the cir-culation via a defective blood-gut barrier dur-ing episodes of hypotension or reduced per-fusion. Materials and methods: In this study, 165 patients receiving outpatient-based hemodialysis in a facility (FHD) or at home (HHD), were studied. Levels of inflammation were quantified by developing an inflamma-tory score derived from the measurement of pro-inflammatory cytokines, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Intradialytic blood pressure (BP) variability and hypotension events were recorded. This included the final session of dialysis, at the commencement of which the blood samples were drawn, as well as the five preceding sessions. Results: The median inflammatory score was 2 (range 0 - 3), and 30% of pa-tients had an inflammatory score of three suggesting significant levels of inflamma-tion. Only 8.5% had an inflammatory score of 0. Endotoxin was measured in all partic-ipants and was only positive in N = 3. The mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 134 +/- 20 mmHg and the BP variability was 11.7 +/- 3.5. In a multivariable ordinal regression model, a higher inflammatory score was sig-nificantly associated with younger age (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.95 - 0.99, p = 0.03), higher ultrafiltration volume (OR 1.62, CI 1.04 - 2.54, p = 0.03) and lower body mass index (OR 0.9, CI 0.86 - 0.96, p = 0.01). There was no association between inflammatory score and dialysis modality, access type, kidney replacement therapy (KRT), BP variability, or endotoxin. Endotoxin was detected in only 3 of 165 patients and was not associated with inflammation. Conclusion: Pre-dialysis levels of inflammation are prevalent in the hemodi-alysis population after the long break but are not related to intradialytic BP variability or hypotension in the preceding 2 weeks. How-ever, endotoxemia is uncommon and unlikely to be a significant driver of inflammation.