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      Death Risk in Hemodialysis Patients: The Predictive Value of Commonly Measured Variables and an Evaluation of Death Rate Differences Between Facilities

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      American Journal of Kidney Diseases
      Elsevier BV

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          Abstract

          Logistic regression analysis was applied to a sample of more than 12,000 hemodialysis patients to evaluate the association of various patient descriptors, treatment time (hours/treatment), and various laboratory tests with the probability of death. Advancing age, white race, and diabetes were all associated with a significantly increased risk of death. Short dialysis times were also associated with high death risk before adjustment for the value of laboratory tests. Of the laboratory variables, low serum albumin less than 40 g/L (less than 4.0 g/dL) was most highly associated with death probability. About two thirds of patients had low albumin. These findings suggest that inadequate nutrition may be an important contributing factor to the mortality suffered by hemodialysis patients. The relative risk profiles for other laboratory tests are presented. Among these, low serum creatinine, not high, was associated with high death risk. Both serum albumin concentration and creatinine were directly correlated with treatment time so that high values for both substances were associated with long treatment times. The data suggest that physicians may select patients with high creatinine for more intense dialysis exposure and patients with low creatinine for less intense treatment. In a separate analysis, observed death rates were compared with rates expected on the basis of case mix for these 237 facilities. The data suggest substantial volatility of observed/expected ratios when facility size is small. Nonetheless, a minority of facilities (less than or equal to 2%) may have higher rates than expected when compared with the pool of all patients in this sample. The effect of various laboratory variables on mortality is substantial, while relatively few facilities have observed death rates that exceed their expected values. Therefore, we suggest that strategies designed to improve the overall mortality statistic for dialysis patients in the United States would be better directed toward improving the quality of care for all patients, particularly high-risk patients, within their usual treatment settings rather than trying to identify facilities with high death rate for possible regulatory intervention.

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          Mortality Risk Factors in Patients Treated by Chronic Hemodialysis

          A survival analysis was applied to 1,453 patients treated between 1972 and 1978 in 33 French dialysis centers and prospectively followed up in the computerized Diaphane Dialysis Registry. 198 deaths (overall mortality = OM) were registered, of which 87 (43%) were secondary to cardiovascular complications (cardiovascular mortality = CVM). Risk factors for OM and CVM (p values 2 ), low cholesterol ( < 4.5 mmol/l) and low mean predialysis blood urea ( < 4.6 mmol/l) were associated with increased OM and CVM, and more especially with high stroke mortality. Results for urea but not for cholesterol remain significant after adjustment for age, sex, weekly dialysis schedule and body mass index. They suggest that, in addition to elevated blood pressure, a poor nutritional state and/or low protein intake may be important factors for explaining the high cardiovascular mortality, particularly for strokes, observed in dialyzed patients.
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            Mortality rates among dialysis patients in Medicare's End-Stage Renal Disease Program.

            Medicare's End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Program provides funding for life-saving renal replacement therapy for patients with irreversible chronic renal failure. Although more than 100,000 patients are currently alive due to dialysis and transplantation, mortality among ESRD patients is still much higher than in the general population. Gross mortality, calculated from aggregate statistics such as those available from the annual ESRD facility survey, is an extremely imprecise measure of mortality and can lead to misleading conclusions. Standard methods of survival calculation such as actuarial life-table analyses provide more accurate descriptions of variations and trends in mortality. The most important characteristic influencing mortality among ESRD patients on dialysis is the changing age and diagnostic distribution. The average age of dialysis patients has increased by over 5 years during the past decade. Patients whose renal failure is attributed to diabetic nephropathy currently account for 30% of all patients initiating renal replacement therapy each year and constitute the fastest growing group of ESRD patients. From 1982 to 1987, 1-year survival on dialysis was 72.7% for patients whose renal failure was attributed to diabetic nephropathy and 79.8% for all other patients. Survival decreases rapidly with advancing age at time of renal failure, from 95.1% among patients 15 to 24 years to 52.5% for patients over the age of 85 (for non-diabetics). Survival rates for whites are 5% to 6% lower than for other racial categories. There are no obvious trends in mortality among dialysis patients over the past decade. For patients whose renal failure is attributed to diabetic nephropathy, survival rates have remained constant despite overall aging in this group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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              Malnutrition, Altered Immune Function, and the Risk of Infection in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                American Journal of Kidney Diseases
                American Journal of Kidney Diseases
                Elsevier BV
                02726386
                May 1990
                May 1990
                : 15
                : 5
                : 458-482
                Article
                10.1016/S0272-6386(12)70364-5
                2333868
                59fc5982-e112-47c8-8908-244413c6c41c
                © 1990

                https://www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/

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