Table 1 Comparison of six aspects of quality of care in 603 incident patients (<90 days on hemodialysis) and 2 859 prevalent patients (>90 days on maintenance hemodialysis)

Age (years)

66.3 (14.6)

67.1 (14.2)

NS

Charlson comorbidity index

6.9 (2.9)

6.9 (2.9)

NS

 Weekly treatment time (min)

677 (116)

721 (77)

<0.001

 Blood flow rate (ml/min)

295 (65)

351 (77)

<0.001

 Treated blood volume (l/kg)

1.0 (0.3)

1.2 (0.7)

<0.001

 HD treatments/week

3.0 (0.4)

3.0 (0.3)

NS

 Kt/V

1.4 (0.4)

1.7 (0.4)

<0.001

 URR (%)

66 (16)

74 (10)

<0.001

 Potassium (mmol/l)

4.8 (0.7)

5.2 (1.0)

<0.001

 Body weight

70.8 (20)

72.4 (17)

NS

 BMI (kg/m²)

25.9 (0.9)

26.3 (6.5)

NS

 Albumin (g/l)

37.4 (19.5)

40.7 (21.8)

0.001

 Hb (g/dl) all pts

9.9 (1.6)

11.0 (1.3)

<0.001

 Hb (g/dl) on ESA

9.8 (1.5)

10.8 (1.2)

<0.001

 TSAT (%)

26 (12)

31 (14)

<0.001

 Ferritin (μg/l)

305 (291)

540 (542)

<0.001

 Weekly ESA dose (IU/week)

5470 (4440)

4982 (3640)

<0.05

 ERI (ESA U/week/kg/Hb)

8.5 (8.4)

7.0 (6.3)

<0.001

 Phosphorus (mg/dl)

4.8 (1.6)

5.0 (1.6)

NS

 Calcium (mg/dl)

8.7 (2.2)

8.8 (1.6)

NS

 iPTH (pg/ml)

372 (298)

496 (448)

<0.001

 MAP (mm Hg)

95 (12)

94 (14)

NS

 IDBWG (%)

1.6 (4.6)

2.6 (1.5)

<0.001

 UF volume (ml/session)

1687 (963)

2259 (1008)

<0.001

Vascular access

Percent

Percent

Chi square

 AV fistula (%)

32

70

<0.001

 AV graft (%)

1

4

<0.001

 CVC (%)

68

26

<0.001

Sex (% female)

42

41

NS

Age ≥70 years (%)

46

47

NS

Diabetes mellitus (%)

23

27

<0.05

Hemodiafiltration (%)

11

22

<0.001