March 24, 2025

Less frequent bloodwork may be feasible for people on hemodialysis

A recent study published by researchers in Alberta suggests that it may be safe to reduce the frequency of regular bloodwork for people on hemodialysis to once every eight weeks, which also leads to modest savings in health care costs.  

Because people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at risk of many complications, including anemia and mineral bone disease, it is routine for them to undergo bloodwork every month to assess their health, especially if they are on dialysis. Some studies have suggested this bloodwork schedule could be safely reduced to once every six weeks.  

Dr. Epsita Shome-Vasanthan and colleagues sought to explore whether this frequency could be further reduced to once every eight weeks. They conducted a study with 972 patients receiving dialysis from a clinic in Calgary. They analyzed the bloodwork results of study participants over a one-year period where patients were receiving tests on average every 39.5 days, comparing these results to a subsequent one-year period where patients had tests done on average every 54.2 days.  

The results show that patients who had less frequent bloodwork were not at increased risk of hospitalization. They were also not more likely to have abnormal laboratory results for hemoglobin, iron saturation, calcium, or parathyroid hormone. However, patients with less frequent bloodwork were at a 0.7 per cent increased risk of hyperkalemia and 9 per cent increased risk of not meeting phosphate targets, compared to patients who had more frequent blood tests. Lastly, the researchers assessed how much money was saved by reducing the number of anemia and mineral bone density blood tests completed over this one-year period, estimating more than $32,900 in cost-savings.