NCT07465042

Symptom Clusters in Hemodialysis : Insights From a Multicenter Analysis Using Tetrachoric Correlations

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 256 (actual)
• Sponsor: Calydial · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

In 2025, Guerraoui et al. published the Concordance Study in Clinical Kidney Journal, a large multicenter cross-sectional study embedded within the French REIN registry. This study compared symptoms reported by hemodialysis patients using the Dialysis Symptom Index (DSI) with clinician-perceived symptoms, revealing a high symptom burden and marked patient-clinician discordance \[3\]. The present work is a secondary analysis of the Concordance Study dataset. Building on the original findings, this analysis aims to deepen understanding of symptom organization and determinants in hemodialysis using multivariate and correlation-based approaches. Specifically, our objectives were : 1. to identify and characterize symptom clusters using tetrachoric correlations and hierarchical clustering; 2. to examine associations between symptoms (and clusters) and comorbidity burden, while assessing potential sex-specific patterns in symptom expression. Through this secondary analysis, we aim to clarify the internal architecture of symptom co-occurrence, identify key demographic drivers such as sex, and generate evidence supporting cluster-informed, individualized approaches to symptom assessment and management in routine nephrology care.

Conditions

• DIALYSIS SYMPTOMS AND ANXIETY
• Hemodialysis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	observational cross sectional study	no intervention : observational

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-01-01
• Primary completion: 2023-01-01
• Completion: 2024-12-31
• First posted: 2026-03-11
• Last updated: 2026-03-11

Locations

6 sites across 1 country: France