We conducted a cross-sectional survey to determine the relative course of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection sustained on maintenance hemodialysis. All 34 patients with ESRD and HIV infection receiving hemodialysis in one hospital-based and three community-based outpatient hemodialysis facilities in Brooklyn, NY, were studied. We documented their known duration of HIV infection, duration of ESRD, and hemodialysis prescription, and noted the presence of clinical acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Total CD4 count, serum albumin concentration, and percent reduction of urea (predialysis blood urea nitrogen minus postdialysis blood urea nitrogen, divided by predialysis blood urea nitrogen x 100) were measured. The 34 study subjects (26 men and eight women) included 31 blacks (91%) and three Hispanics (9%) with a mean age of 42 +/- 7.5 years, 29 (85%) of whom had AIDS. Twenty subjects (59%) had a history of intravenous drug abuse. Only six subjects (18%) were receiving an antiretroviral drug (zidovudine = five, dideoxyinosine = one). In 23 subjects (68%), AIDS was diagnosed prior to ESRD and was presumed to be the cause of renal failure (HIV-associated nephropathy). The mean known duration of HIV infection was 50.5 +/- 34 months (median, 48 months); the mean duration of ESRD was 57 +/- 50 months, the mean total CD4 count was 140 +/- 150 cells/microL (median, 70 cells/microL), the mean hematocrit was 28% +/- 5%, and the mean serum albumin concentration was 3.5 +/- 0.37 g/dL. All subjects were receiving erythropoietin for anemia correction. The mean length of the prescribed thrice-weekly hemodialysis sessions was 3.5 +/- 0.4 hours. Our results suggest that the survival of many ESRD patients with HIV infection receiving hemodialysis has improved compared with the uniformly dismal survival rate reported in the 1980s. Decisions on whether to initiate renal replacement therapy in patients with AIDS and advanced renal failure should be individualized because the combination of ESRD and HIV infection does not necessarily signal near-term death.