Effect of patient solicitation on mortality among patients receiving hemodialysis in Korea

Figures & data

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the participants

	Non-soliciting facilities (n=1,218)	Soliciting facilities (n=1,013)	P-value
Age (years)	56.8±14.8	60.4±12.6	<0.001
>60 years of age	548 (45.0%)	560 (55.3%)	0.01
Males	729 (59.9%)	648 (63.4%)	0.05
National Health Insurance	1,099 (90.2%)	882 (87.2%)	0.03
Diabetes mellitus	626 (51.4%)	625 (61.7%)	<0.001
Myocardial infarction	109 (9.0%)	138 (13.6%)	<0.001
Congestive heart failure	164 (13.5%)	219 (21.6%)	<0.001
Cerebrovascular accident	106 (8.7%)	149 (14.7%)	<0.001
Peripheral artery disease	67 (5.5%)	107 (10.6%)	<0.001
Chronic pulmonary disease	118 (9.7%)	253 (25.0%)	<0.001
Peptic ulcer disease	139 (11.4%)	227 (22.4%)	<0.001
Liver disease	206 (16.9%)	120 (11.9%)	<0.001

Note: Age is expressed as the mean ± standard deviation, and all other data are expressed as the number (%).

Table 2 Comparison of clinical practices between non-soliciting facilities and soliciting facilities

(Years)	Non-soliciting facilities (n=19)		Soliciting facilities (n=19)		P-value
		2009	2010	2009	2010
Nephrologists (%)	96.3	95.6	8.9	18.0	<0.001
Career nurse above 2 years (%)	81.2	85.8	59.7	66.7	0.001
Daily HD per physician	26.8	28.0	56.6	60.1	0.002
Daily HD per nurse	4.0	4.1	4.8	4.8	0.02
Emergency equipment (%)	83.3	100	40.0	53.8	0.01
Water quality test (%)	85.2	87.7	71.1	89.7	0.14
HD adequacy test (%)	100	99.1	89.3	90.6	0.15
Vascular access monitoring (%)	99.6	94.6	82.4	91.9	0.08

Abbreviation: HD, hemodialysis.

Figure 1 Crude Kaplan–Meier survival curves for non-soliciting facilities patients and soliciting facilities patients.

Table 3 Cox proportional hazard model of mortality in dialysis patients

Variables	Unadjusted		Adjusted
	Hazard ratio (95% C.I.)	P-Value	Hazard ratio (95% C.I.)	P-value
Soliciting facilities	1.40 (1.15–1.69)	0.001	1.37 (1.13–1.67)	0.001
Age (per 10 years)	1.09 (1.01–1.17)	0.02	1.10 (1.02–1.18)	0.011
Sex (Male)	1.33 (1.08–1.63)	0.007	1.28 (1.05–1.58)	0.017
Diabetes mellitus	1.30 (1.07–1.59)	0.009	1.27 (1.04–1.56)	0.019
Myocardial infarction	1.61 (1.13–2.29)	0.009	1.81 (1.27–2.59)	0.001
Congestive heart failure	1.11 (0.86–1.43)	0.41	−
Peripheral artery disease	0.79 (0.58–1.08)	0.14	−
Cerebrovascular accident	1.14 (0.85–1.54)	0.39	−
Chronic pulmonary disease	1.00 (0.78–1.28)	0.99	−
Peptic ulcer disease	0.99 (0.77–1.26)	0.91	−
Liver disease	1.21 (0.91–1.61)	0.18	−

Figure 2 Subgroup analyses comparing hazard ratios for mortality between non-soliciting facilities patients and soliciting facilities patients.

Figure S1 Subgroup analyses comparing hazard ratios for mortality between non-soliciting facilities patients and soliciting facilities patients aged more than 60 years.

Figure S2 Subgroup analyses comparing hazard ratios for mortality between non-soliciting facilities patients and soliciting facilities patients aged less than 60 years.