Introduction:

Information regarding severity of uremic pruritus, impact on sleep quality in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) in renal replacement therapy (RRT) is scarce in Mexico.

Objective:

To correlate clinical and biochemical features, body mass index (BMI), sleep quality impairment with severity of uremic pruritus in patients with ESRD in RRT.

Material and methods:

Cross sectional study with patients of “Hospital General de México” from August through September 2018. Clinical, biochemical and sleep quality variables were collected. Characteristics of pruritus four weeks before assessment was obtained. A descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression for severe pruritus [visual analogue scale (VAS) of > 6 points] were analyzed.

Results:

Data from 99 patients was included. 60.6% male, age 44.9 ± 4.2 years. Patients with severe pruritus were older (42.4 vs 49.7 years p = 0.021), had higher BMI (23.8 vs 25.9 kg/m2, p = 0.019). Other associations identified were BMI ≥ 24 kg/m2 [OR = 3.37 (95% CI 1.008-11.29, p = 0.049)], disseminated pruritus [OR = 17.2 (95% CI 1.039-286.6, p = 0.047)]; awakenings OR = 10.9 (95% CI 2.21-53.87, p = 0.003). No association was observed for biochemical variables or TRR modality.

Conclusions:

Severe uremic pruritus was associated with higher BMI, older age, disseminated affection and awakenings.