Research shows dialysis patients who take medications to reduce levels of phosphorus in the blood (phosphate binders) may reduce the risk of death by 25 to 30 percent. The drugs were associated with improved survival in new dialysis patients, including those patients with only modest or even no increase in their blood phosphorus levels.
 
If phosphate binders improve survival even in new dialysis patients with relatively normal phosphorus levels, then it is possible they might also be beneficial for the much larger group of patients with less-advanced kidney disease. Additional research must be done to get more information on improving dialysis patients' survival rate by using these medications.

This article originally appeared in the January 2009 issue of Renal Flash.