Concordance and Discordance in the Assessment of Volume Status in Home Dialysis Patients: A Comparison of Modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale, Physical Exam, and Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

After obtaining informed consent, the Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) Dyspnea scale will be administered to patients, and their responses will be recorded on a scale of 0 to +4. During the same clinical visit, a physical examination will be performed by the primary nephrologist, who will categorize the patient's volume status as hypovolemic, euvolemic, mild, moderate, or severe volume overloaded. Finally, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), specifically lung ultrasound (LUS), will be performed. Patients will be assigned a score based on the number of B-lines observed. We will measure discordance and concordance between the LUS and physical exam, the LUS and mMRC dyspnea scale, and between the physical exam and mMRc dyspnea scale.