Pregnancy is uncommon in end-stage renal failure, particularly in patients requiring dialysis. We reviewed the literature from 1965 to date, seeking an optimal way of dialyzing pregnant women after encountering one such patient.

Methods

We searched the English literature by cross-referencing “pregnancy” with “hemo-” or “peritoneal dialysis” and “renal failure”. Eighty-six pregnancies worldwide were found to which we added one case of our own. Various independent factors were studied against gestational age at delivery using uni- and multivariate analysis. These factors included mother's age, previous delivery, diagnoses of renal disease, dialysis duration prior to pregnancy, gestational age at onset of dialysis, dialysis type, level of hemoglobin during pregnancy, BUN and creatinine targets, BUN/creatinine ratio, dialysis intensity at the beginning and end of pregnancy, influence of erythropoietin and dialysis complications.

Results

Of the 87 pregnancies, 12% resulted in stillbirths, 9% of neonates died prior to discharge. The mean gestational age at delivery was 32 ± 5 weeks, and the mean birth weight 1604 ± 652 g. Two congenital abnormalities and one twin pregnancy were reported. 48% of deliveries were premature. Pre-eclampsia was reported in 11%, and worsening hypertension in 17%. CAPD was used in 25 and hemodialysis in 62 patients. Fetal survival was similar in both cases (72% vs 82%), although incidence of various dialysis complications differed.

The conventional dialysis goals of a low target BUN level and hemoglobin for pregnant patients were not factors in predicting fetal outcome. The number of hemodialyses/week were negatively correlated (R = -0.35, P = 0.061), but the hours of dialysis positively correlated (R = 0.42, p = 0.035) to gestational age. Fetal survival was independently influenced by creatinine level [564 µmol/L when baby survived vs 788 µmol/L when baby died (p = 0.021)], BUN/creatinine ratio (50 vs 30, p = 0.053), and hours of dialysis (5.6 hrs vs 3.6 hrs, p=0.013). There was no relation of either frequency or volume of peritoneal dialysis exchanges to gestational age or fetal survival.

Conclusions

Greater attention to a high intake of protein (>1.5 g/kg) and higher dose of hemodialysis, achieved by longer, every other day dialysis, may be the optimal approach to pregnant patients on hemodialysis. Our first attempt to define the goal of hemodialysis is to keep the predialysis creatinine below 600 mmol/L and the protein intake high enough so the predialysis BUN level is >25 mmol/L. There are no clear guidelines on how to best perform CAPD.