Pregnancy Outcomes in French Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Pregnancy in hemodialysis (HD) women is a rare event and often associated with maternal and fetal complications. Scarcity of available data from large cohorts impedes fair medical counseling.

Methods: This is a descriptive, retrospective, multi-centric study. Pregnant women on HD during the period from 1985 to 2015 in France were included. The primary outcome was a living infant discharged from hospital, while secondary outcomes included gestational age and birth weight.

Results: We identified 100 pregnancies in 84 women on HD, from 41 centers. Chronic HD was initiated during pregnancy for 17.7% (14/79) of patients explaining a 19.8% prevalence of catheter (19/96) and a preserved residual diuresis for 50% of pregnancy (43/86). Seventy-six (89.4%) women performed daily dialysis during the third trimester (6 times per week). Our primary outcome was met for 78% of newborns with a mean gestational age of 33.2 ± 3.9 weeks and a mean birth weight of 1,719 ± 730 g.

Conclusions: Our study is one of the largest series of -pregnancies in HD patients. Despite recent progresses, these pregnancies remain at high risk, reinforcing the need for an early nephrologist-obstetrician skilled team co-management.