Abstract: Ｏｂｊｅｃｔｉｖｅ：To investigate the prevalence and risk factors of pruritus in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, and to explore risk factors of pruritus.
Ｍｅｔｈｏｄｏｌｏｇｙ：A questionnaire survey involving skin pruritus and clinical data was conducted among MHD patients from 24 hemodialysis centers which were selected by stratified sampling in Jiangsu Province from October 2018 to October 2019. The relevant factors of pruritus were analyzed.
Ｒｅｓｕｌｔｓ：A total of 3819 MHD patients were included. The prevalence of pruritus and moderate-to-extreme pruritus was 2755％ and 18.02％, respectively. The median duration of pruritus was 12.00 months. Among patients with pruritus, the proportion of occasional and slight scratching was the highest, and more than half of the patients had scratches. The effective rate of conventional drug treatment was 42.21％. Multivariate regression analysis showed that age≥45 years, increased body surface area, low diastolic blood pressure, smoking, drinking, history of secondary hyperparathyroidism, warfarin, muscle weakness, bone pain, metastatic calcification, osteoporosis, serum calcium and serum phosphorus levels are risk factors for pruritus in MHD patients.
Ｃｏｎｃｌｕｓｉｏｎ：The degree of pruritus in MHD patients is mild while the effective rate of treatment is 42.21％. Nephrologists should pay attention to pruritus in dialysis patients, and timely intervention should be given to patients' living habits, comorbidities, chronic kidney diseasemineral and bone disorders, so as to relieve pruritus and improve their quality of life.

Key words: pruritus, hemodialysis, epidemiological investigation, prevalence, risk factors