title: High dialysis dose is associated with lower mortality among women but not among men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several observational studies reported lower mortality risk among hemodialysis patients treated with doses greater than the standard dose. The present study evaluates, with observational data, the secondary randomized Hemodialysis (HEMO) Study finding that greater dialysis dose may benefit women, but not men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 74,120 US hemodialysis patients starting end-stage renal disease therapy were analyzed. Patients were classified into 1 of 5 categories of hemodialysis dose according to their average urea reduction ratio (URR), and their relative risk (RR) for mortality was evaluated by using Cox proportional hazards models. Similar analyses using equilibrated Kt/V were completed for 10,816 hemodialysis patients in the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS) in 7 countries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For both men and women, RR was substantially lower in the URR 70%-to-75% category compared with the URR 65%-to-70% category. Among women, RR in the URR greater-than-75% category was significantly lower compared with the URR 70%-to-75% group (P < 0.0001); however, no further association with mortality risk was observed for the greater-than-75% category among men (P = 0.22). RR associated with doses greater than the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative guidelines (URR > or = 65%) was significantly different for men compared with women (P < 0.01). Similar differences by sex were observed in DOPPS analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The agreement of these observational studies with the HEMO Study supports the existence of a survival benefit from greater dialysis doses for women, but not for men. Responses to greater dialysis dose by sex deserve additional study to explain these differences.
authors.affiliation: University Renal Research and Education Association, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, USA. fport@urrea.org
authors.forename: Friedrich K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Port
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Wolfe
authors.forename: Tempie E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Hulbert-Shearon
authors.forename: Keith P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: McCullough
authors.forename: Valarie B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Ashby
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Held
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000379:methods*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015996:Survival Rate