An outbreak of dialysis dementia due to aluminum in the dialysate

The dialysis dementia syndrome was observed in eight of 21 patients dialyzed in a small center during a 22-month period in which dialysate contained aluminum levels of 618 microgram/liter. This incidence of 38% was significantly higher than the zero incidence of four prior years when no aluminum was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of dialysis Vol. 2; no. 5-6; p. 459
Main Authors Rozas, V V, Port, F K, Easterling, R E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 1978
Subjects
Adult
Aluminum - adverse effects
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Disorders - chemically induced
Middle Aged
Renal Dialysis - adverse effects
Time Factors
Water Supply - analysis
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Summary:The dialysis dementia syndrome was observed in eight of 21 patients dialyzed in a small center during a 22-month period in which dialysate contained aluminum levels of 618 microgram/liter. This incidence of 38% was significantly higher than the zero incidence of four prior years when no aluminum was added to city water (p less than 0.05) and also when compared to the zero incidence in the 2.5 years subsequent to deionization of dialysis water which lowered its aluminum content to less than 1 microgram/liter (p less than 0.0002). Since other factors were not altered, we conclude that aluminum intoxication from the dialysate was the cause for the outbreak of this progressive encephalopathy.
ISSN:0362-8558
DOI:10.3109/08860227809080099