Abstract
A few years ago, a group of Canadian and American nephrologists established the Frequent Hemodialysis Network (FHN) aiming at establishing potential advantages of daily and/or nocturnal haemodialysis (HD) both for patients and the health care system. This initiative is supported by the National Institute of Health in conjunction with Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Preliminary results of the FHN group have shown that this intensive HD system has an impact on important end points, such as blood pressure control, metabolic equilibrium, quality of life and patient survival. A recent study of this group of researchers (Suri et al. [2]), published in this issue of Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, is dedicated to the problematic relationship between the patients' perceived burden on their unpaid caregivers, depression and quality of life.