1). A landmark study of 32 065 haemodialysis patients, mean follow-up of 2.2 years, reported that deaths from cardiac arrests were most common after the long 2

day inter-dialytic break (after long inter-dialytic break, 1.3 vs 1.0 deaths per 100 person-years on other days, P = 0.004).[42] The DOPPS investigators reported similar findings in haemodialysis patients from the United States, Europe and Japan.[43] Possible explanations are manifold, including hypervolaemia, circulatory collapse, or electrolyte and metabolite build-up between dialysis sessions. Potassium is important for regulation of trans-membrane potential of cardiac myocytes, and there is evidence to support the hypothesis that potassium shifts, relative hypokalaemia post-dialysis[44] and pre-dialytic RG-7388 hypokalaemia predispose to arrhythmia. In one multivariate

Cox regression analysis of the risk factors for SCD in 476 chronic haemodialysis patients, GSK1120212 cost pre-dialytic hyperkalaemia conferred 2.7-fold increase (95% CI = 1.3–5.9).[45] In an observational study of 81 013 haemodialysis patients, the optimum pre-dialysis serum potassium in respect of long-term survival was between 4.6 and 5.3 mmol/L.[46] In a review of 400 dialysis unit cardiac arrests, patients who were dialysed against a low potassium dialysate (0 or 1.0 mmol/L) were twice as likely to have had a cardiac arrest.[47] It has also been reported that a dialysate potassium of <2 mmol/L (or <3 mmol/L, if pre-dialysis potassium is <5 mmol/L) confers increased risk of SCD.[3, 6] Electrical conduction is also dependent on intra-cardiac calcium handling; a low calcium dialysate (1.25 mmol/L) is associated Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II with aberrations in cardiac conduction

as assessed by electrocardiography, such as increased QTc dispersion or prolonged QT interval.[48] In view of these findings, there is a need for future studies to concentrate on the composition of dialysate in the hope of reducing arrhythmia burden. High rates of fluid removal may result in intra-dialytic hypotension, myocardial stunning and injury. In turn, this may predispose to arrhythmia or circulatory collapse. In DOPPS, a large ultrafiltration volume (>5.7% of post-dialysis weight) conferred an HR of 1.15 for sudden death (defined as deaths due to arrhythmia, cardiac arrest and/or hyperkalaemia).[6] Similarly, in a case-control study of 502 haemodialysis patients who had a sudden cardiac arrest with 1632 age- and dialysis-vintage-matched controls who did not, increased ultrafiltration volumes conferred an adjusted OR of 1.11 (95% CI = 1.02–1.033, P = 0.02). A recent observational study reported that depressed heart rate variability is associated with fluid overload in chronic haemodialysis patients.[49] This may be one of the pathophysiological mechanisms by which fluid overload predisposes to arrhythmias.