The impact of residual renal function on hospitalization and mortality in incident hemodialysis patients.
OBJECTIVE
Few data are available on the impact of residual renal function (RRF) on mortality and hospitalization in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The objective of our study was to compare clinical outcomes for HD patients with and without RRF.


METHODS
In a cohort of 118 incident HD patients with RRF (n = 51) and without RRF (n = 67) who started dialysis in a single center, we recorded demographics, laboratory data, medication, hospitalizations and mortality.


RESULTS
Patients without RRF were older (p = 0.007), had lower baseline serum albumin levels (p = 0.002) and spent 18.6 more days in hospital per year than those with RRF (p = 0.055). Mean survival time was significantly lower in patients without RRF (p = 0.027). In a Cox proportional hazards model, only RRF remained as a significant independent predictor.


CONCLUSIONS
RRF is associated with significantly reduced mortality and hospital days, but does not decrease the hospitalization rate and time to first hospitalization.
Department of Medicine, Nephrology Division, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY 10003, USA. brenerz@yahoo.com
Zachary Z
ZZ
Brener
Stephan
S
Thijssen
Peter
P
Kotanko
Martin K
MK
Kuhlmann
Michael
M
Bergman
James F
JF
Winchester
Nathan W
NW
Levin
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome