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During the congress, E-Posters will be accessible to all participants on the congress website 24/7, as well as in the E-poster stations in the congress center.
Preparing your E-Poster
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E-Poster Submission Deadline
Please prepare and upload your E-Poster no later than March 14, 2026 11.59PM CET. After this date, you will no longer be able to prepare and upload your E-poster and it will not be displayed and accessible on the congress website.
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Abstract titles should be brief and reflect the content of the abstract.
Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) receiving dialysis live with multiple physical and psychological symptoms that reduce their quality of life. Pain, fatigue, pruritus, anxiety and depression often occur together and amplify one another. The Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale–Renal (IPOS‑Renal) is a validated instrument designed to capture this spectrum of symptoms and concerns in advanced kidney disease. Objective: to provide a descriptive overview of symptom prevalence and intensity and selected quality-of-life domains in a national cohort of dialysis patients in Brazil.
Design and sample: cross‑sectional survey in May 2025 across 100 DaVita dialysis units. Adults undergoing maintenance haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis were invited to complete IPOS‑Renal through a patient‑reported outcomes platform.
Population: the Tasy electronic records listed 22,580 patients; 15,600 were reached (coverage 69.1 %), and 13,648 completed the questionnaire (response rate 87.5 % among those reached). Respondents were 58.7 % male (9,154) and 41.3 % female (6,446). Regional participation was broad, led by the Northeast (20.4 %), SP Vale‑ABC‑ES (15.5 %), São Paulo city (14.7 %) and SP interior (13.0 %).
Dialysis modalities: most patients were on conventional haemodialysis (HDI) – 13,051 respondents (68 %). Haemodiafiltration (HDF) accounted for 1,907 patients (66.8 % coverage), convective haemodiafiltration (HDFD) 235 (67.1 %), and daily haemodialysis (HDD) 62 (65.3 %). Chronic peritoneal dialysis and home modalities included only a few individuals (all reached).
Survey administration: 95.3 % completed IPOS‑Renal with staff assistance, 3.8 % independently and 0.9 % with help from family or friends. Non‑completion reasons among those reached were refusal/lack of consent (5.0 %), cognitive impairment (2.7 %), unstable clinical status (2.3 %), communication barriers (2.3 %) and paediatric age (0.3 %); 87.5 % were not excluded.
Additional variables: 42.8 % reported spending “up to half a day” on health‑related appointments and transport, 39.6 % spent no extra time and 17.6 % more than half a day. Most respondents felt at peace (67.9 %), felt adequately informed (83.0 %) and could share feelings with family/friends (58.1 %), yet substantial proportions reported anxiety (46.1 % at least sometimes) and depression (31.9 % at least sometimes). Family or friends were anxious about the patient in 65.9 % of cases.
The figure 1 and 2 below, summarises the proportion of patients reporting each symptom (≥ mild) and the proportion with moderate‑to‑severe levels (moderate + severe + unbearable). Counts refer to the 13,648 respondents. Difficulty walking, pain and difficulty sleeping were the most common complaints (present in ~41–43 % of patients). Among symptomatic individuals, roughly two‑thirds rated these symptoms as moderate or severe. Fatigue/lack of energy affected 39.8 % of patients; about half of these rated it as moderate or worse—contrasting with some literature where fatigue is often the most prevalent symptom. Pruritus, constipation and poor appetite each affected about a quarter of respondents, with half to two‑thirds reporting moderate‑to‑severe intensity. Gastro‑intestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea were less common (10–21 %) but, when present, were moderate or severe in roughly half of cases. The word‑cloud from the open question on “main problems or concerns over the past 7 days” highlighted recurring themes of anxiety, treatment, pain, transplant, health, family and finances.
This national survey of 13,648 dialysis patients shows that most experience at least one physical or psychological symptom. Difficulty walking, pain and sleep disturbances were the most frequent issues and were often moderate to severe. Fatigue, pruritus and constipation were also highly prevalent, underscoring that symptom management must go beyond biochemical targets. While most patients felt informed and at peace, nearly half reported anxiety and one‑third reported depressive feelings. The high reliance on staff assistance (95 %) demonstrates that large‑scale PROM implementation is feasible but resource‑intensive. These data align with calls for patient‑centred kidney care. They map clear priorities for interventions: pain control, sleep and mobility improvement, relief of pruritus and constipation, and psychosocial support for anxiety and depression. Routine use of tools like IPOS‑Renal can help nephrology teams identify and address symptom burden, ultimately enhancing quality of life for patients undergoing dialysis.
