The use of multifrequency bioimpedance (MFB) for determination of dry weight (DW) in haemodialysis (HD) patients was evaluated in three studies. In Study 1, the fluid state [total body water (TBW) and extracellular volume (ECV)] was measured by MFB in 82 normotensive patients. 41 hypertensive patients and in 30 healthy subjects. TBW and ECV were expressed as per cent of body weight (BW). In Study 2, DW of five hypertensive HD patients was gradually decreased during 3 months and ECV (MFB) and blood pressure (48 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring) were measured at the beginning and end of study. In Study 3, we measured the fluid status repeatedly by MFB and the diameter of the inferior vena cava (DIVC) by ultrasound before, during and 2 h post-HD. In Study 1, the hypertensive patients had significantly greater TBW (P < 0.05) than the normotensive patients before (50.3 +/- 6.5% vs 47.6 +/- 5.8%) and after HD (48.8 +/- 7.8% vs 45.7 +/- 6.4%) and ECV (P < 0.001) before (29.4 +/- 3.6% vs 26.8 +/- 3.5%) and after HD (27.0 +/- 4.0% vs 24.6 +/- 3.5%), Post-HD ECV in the normotensive patients was similar to that in the healthy subjects. In Study 2, more efficient ultrafiltration resulted in reduction of BW and ECV along with a decrease in blood pressure and need for antihypertensive medication. In Study 3, both ECV and DIVC decreased following the removal of fluid during HD. ECV maintained stable values during the post-HD period, unlike DIVC which increased significantly (P < 0.005) due to refilling from the interstitial space. We conclude that MFB is an appropriate non-invasive method for DW determination, which is highly reproducible and technically simple to use.