Table 3 Improvement in six aspects of quality of hemodialysis care in incident patients (<90 days on hemodialysis) vs the same patients after 6 months of hemodialysis (n=258)

Charlson comorbidity index

6.4 (2.7)

6.5 (2.6)

<0.01

Adequacy

Paired t-test

 Weekly treatment time (min)

678 (122)

715 (87)

<0.001

 Blood flow rate (ml/min)

294 (67)

329 (48)

<0.001

 Treated blood volume (l/kg)

1.0 (0.3)

1.1 (0.3)

<0.001

 HD treatments/week

3.0 (0.4)

3.0 (0.3)

NS

 Kt/V

1.4 (0.5)

1.5 (0.4)

<0.001

 URR (%)

66 (17)

72 (9)

<0.001

 Potassium (mmol/l)

4.8 (0.7)

5.0 (0.7)

<0.01

 Body weight

70.8 (20)

71.6 (18.6)

NS

 BMI (kg/m²)

25.9 (6.5)

25.9 (5.8)

NS

 Albumin (g/l)

36.6 (4.6)

42 (3.4)

<0.01

 Hb (g/dl) all pts

9.8 (1.5)

10.7 (1.4)

<0.001

 Hb (g/dl) on ESA

9.8 (1.4)

10.6 (1.3)

<0.001

 TSAT (%)

26 (12)

30 (13)

0.001

 Ferritin (μg/l)

331 (330)

458 (507)

<0.001

 Weekly ESA dose (IU/week)

5243 (4221)

4627 (4347)

0.092

 ERI (EPO IU/week/kg/Hb)

8.2 (7.3)

5.5 (5.8)

0.05

 Phosphorus (mg/dl)

4.8 (1.6)

5.0 (1.7)

0.084

 Calcium (mg/dl)

8.5 (1.3)

8.6 (1.2)

<0.05

 iPTH (pg/ml)

389 (316)

348 (305)

0.005

 MAP (mm Hg)

95 (12)

95 (12)

NS

 IDBWG (%)

1.8 (1.3)

1.9 (6.0)

NS

 UF volume (ml/session)

1611 (934)

1964 (986)

<0.001

Vascular access

Percent

Percent

McNemars test

 AV fistula (%)

35

55

<0.001

 AV graft (%)

1

2

NS

 CVC (%)

64

42

<0.001