Table 1 Baseline patient, facility and geographic characteristics of the study cohort according to individuals who initiated dialysis with non-tunneled temporary vs. tunneled hemodialysis catheters

N

10, 162 (48.3)

10,890 (51.7)

Patient Characteristics:

 Age (± SD)

64.6 ± 15.5

64.6 ± 16.2

0.705

 Sex % male

59.4

57.4

0.004

 BMI (± SD)

27.3 ± 6.6

27.5 ± 6.7

0.052

 Race (%)

<0.001

  Caucasian

70.9

74.2

  East Asian

5.9

5.1

  Aboriginal

7.8

6.1

  South Asian

2.5

3.8

  Black

4.2

3.9

  Other

6.2

3.4

  Unknown

2.5

3.6

 Pre-dialysis care >90 days %

53.2

64.3

<0.001

 Pre-dialysis care >365 days %

34.2

45.6

 Co-morbidities: %

  Angina

27.2

23.9

<0.001

  Acute coronary syndrome

26.5

24.8

0.003

  Pulmonary edema

34.1

29.4

<0.001

  Diabetes mellitus

46.7

49.3

<0.001

  Stroke

16.9

16.5

0.437

  Peripheral vascular disease

23.3

21.6

0.003

  Malignancy

15.1

15.3

0.788

  Lung disease

14.9

13.4

0.002

  Any hypertension medication(s)

81.3

85.6

<0.001

  Current smoker

16.9

15.7

0.034

  CABG

16.4

16.4

0.970

  Serious Illness

16.0

16.2

0.708

 Cause of ESRD %

<0.001

  Hypertension

23.6

21.4

  Diabetes mellitus

33.8

38.2

  Glomerulonephritis

12.7

14.3

  Obstruction

2.7

2.8

  Interstitial

2.8

2.6

  Polycystic kidney disease

1.8

2.8

  Other

13.1

8.6

  Unknown

9.5

9.2

 eGFR at dialysis initiation (± SD)

9.6 ± 4.7

9.6 ± 4.4

0.435

 Hemoglobin g/L (mean ± SD)

97.5 ± 17.7

98.9 ± 16.9

<0.001

 Phosphatemmol/L (mean ± SD)

2.0 ± 0.8

2.0 ± 0.7

<0.001

 Albumin g/L (mean ± SD)

30.3 ± 0.9

30.7 ± 0.9

<0.001

 Distance from facility %

<0.001

   < 50 km

73.8

76.7

  50-150

16.2

15.4

   > 150

10.0

7.9

Facility Characteristics* (N = 61)

 Mean number of incident patients (per year)

51.3 ± 34.4

60.0 ± 42.4

<0.0001

 Transplant facility %

47.7

52.3

<0.0001

 Peritoneal dialysis facility %

45.9

54.1

<0.0001

 Mean eGFR at dialysis initiation (± SD)

9.7 ± 1.1

9.6 ± 1.2

0.001

 Mean Hemoglobin g/L (± SD)

102.0 ± 3.5

102.0 ± 3.4

0.256

 Mean Phosphate mmol/L (± SD)

1.9 ± 0.1

1.9 ± 0.1

0.002

 Mean distance from facility km (± SD)

56.3 ± 40.7

50.0 ± 39.6

<0.0001