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Introduction: Sleep disorders affect up to 70% of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients and appear to have significant negative effects on their quality of life (QoL). We compared life and sleep quality between patients on automated PD (APD) and continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD). Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study in chronic PD patients followed in our Dialysis Unit in February 2022. We evaluated sleep quality with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and QoL with EUROHIS-QOL-8. Results: Fifty-two patients, mostly men (65.4%, n=32), with a mean age of 52.7±14.2 years and PD vintage of 24.3±17.1 months. Our sample had similar distribution between APD and CAPD; we found no difference between groups regarding demographic data, PD-related quality parameters or prevalence of previous sleep disturbances. Mean QoL index was 69.9%±9.3% and similar between APD and CAPD patients; EUROHIS-QOL-8 negatively correlated with the scores on ESS (p=0.004) and PSQI (p=0.011). Regarding sleep quality, the mean ESS was 8.8±4.2 and PSQI was 7.6±3.6. APD patients had similar scores on ESS, but higher prevalence of severe daytime sleepiness (ESS≥18) (p=0.04) and higher scores on PSQI (p=0.002). Within the PSQI, sleep’ latency (p=0.003), duration (p=0.002) and efficiency (p=0.013) were the most affected parameters. Higher PSQI scores also correlated with worse blood pressure control; a cut-off value for PSQI of 6 was found to increase the risk of uncontrolled hypertension. Conclusion: In our series, APD patients had worse global sleep quality (PSQI) when compared to ACPD patients. This difference was mainly due to worse sleep latency, duration and efficiency. The assessment of the quality of life showed no difference between groups, however there was a clear link between quality of life and sleep quality.

A 43-year-old male patient followed for 27 years in a Nephrology consultation with negative autoimmune diagnostic workup and a histologically proven membranous nephropathy (MN), interpreted as a primary MN. During the follow-up he had multiple relapses, requiring continuous immunosuppression. Eventually, end-stage renal disease developed and the patient started hemodialysis (HD) in January 2018. Soon after initiating HD, he was admitted to the ward due to persistent fever of unknown origin, refractory to antipyretic and antibiotic therapy, but responsive to prednisolone (40 mg/day). Again, the diagnostic workup was negative and the patient was discharged with a corticosteroid taper over 16 weeks. In a posterior admission, after prednisolone suspension, the patient presented to the emergency room with persistente fever, involuntary weight loss, pruriginous macular rash and inflammatory joint pain. As the anti-nuclear antibody and anti-dsDNA came up positive and there was complement consumption, a diagnosis of a systemic lupus flare was established. His stay was complicated by sudden respiratory distress associated with hemoptysis and hemoglobin drop, with a confirmed diffuse alveolar hemorrhage. Daily plasma Exchange and intensive immunosuppression was necessary and the patient evolved into complete clinical remission with partial serological response. Usually, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) develop clinical and serological remission upon initiating HD, reducing the number of flares and need for medication. This case depicts a lupus flare after starting HD, on a previously serologically negative patient, complicated with a rare type of lung parenchyma involvement, which is associated with a high mortality and required intensive immunosuppression for disease control. One can speculate whether or not the initial glomerulopathy was the first manifestation of SLE, previously controlled due to the continuous use of immunosuppression.

We admitted a 21‑year‑old female to the Nephrology ward due to proteinuria and generalized oedema, which started soon after consuming clonixin 300mg thrice a day for two weeks. Her initial blood work showed nephrotic‑range proteinuria, hypoalbuminaemia, hypercholesterolaemia and normal kidney function. We conducted a full auto‑immune and serological study: there were no signs of infection, complemente consumption or underlying auto‑immune diseases. Suspecting minimal change disease, we started prednisolone 1mg/kg/day, with good clinical response and a reduction of urinary protein losses. By the third day, a kidney biopsy was performed: the glomeruli were morphologically normal and no immune deposits were found, which suggested minimal change disease. After seven days, the patient was discharged from the hospital with a corticoid taper until her Nephrology consultation. In the following weeks she maintained clinical and laboratorial remission and prednisolone was stopped after six months. Two months after, the patient noticed a growing bilateral cervical mass and went to the emergency room. The diagnostic workup was inconclusive, so an ultrasound‑guided biopsy was requested. The biopsy revealed lymphoid cell proliferation, positive for CD30, CD15, MUM‑1 and BCl6. These findings confirmed a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis and the patient started radiotherapy and chemotherapy (ABVD‑doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastin, dacarbazine). In the following months her clinical status improved and the cervical mass had a significant size reduction. The kidney disease remained in remission, without therapeutic adjustments. A post‑treatment PET scan was requested, showing only a residual mediastinal mass.

A 56-year-old male with a poorly controlled human immunodeficiency virus infection presents to the emergency room due to anorexia and weight loss. The patient was emaciated, hypertensive and his laboratory tests showed thrombocytopenia, anaemia, an elevated lactate dehydrogenase and an acute kidney injury. The patient was admitted to the Infecciology ward and by the fourth day, as the kidney function did not improve, a Nephrology consultation was requested. We collected a full auto-immune and serological panel and a urinalysis to rule out glomerular pathologies. Two days later, the patient developed a hypertensive emergency associated with an acute respiratory distress, responsive to furosemide and anti-hypertensive medications. The complementary study showed a high LDH, unmeasurable haptoglobin, thrombocytopenia and schizocytes on peripheral blood smear. These findings suggested a thrombotic microangiopathy associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection and so, he restarted antiretroviral therapy. The kidney function deteriorated and, despite starting haemodialysis, the patient died shortly after.