Chronic disease burdens of incident U.S. dialysis patients, 1996 – 2015

INTRODUCTION: The United States Renal Data System has collected data on incident hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients since 1995, allowing prevalence of chronic diseases over the past 20 years to be measured. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All first-time HD/PD patients 1996 - 2015 were analyzed. Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases were grouped into single variables. Prevalence of each condition was evaluated with logistic regression. Odds ratios (OR) for a 5-year difference in year of dialysis initiation were calculated. Models were adjusted for age, sex, and race, with interactions between modality and year. One- and 5-year mortality were calculated. RESULTS: Age increased among 1,847,212 HD and 156,965 PD patients; PD patients were younger. First-year mortality fell from 24.4 to 21.1% in HD patients and from 17.1 to 8.5% in PD. 5-year mortality fell from 65.9 to 58.6% in HD patients and from 56.3 to 40.4% in PD. Hypertension increased (OR = 1.34 for HD, 1.35 for PD), as did diabetes (OR = 1.16 for HD, 1.06 for PD) and cancer (OR = 1.09 for HD, 1.10 for PD). Cardiovascular disease decreased in PD (OR = 0.87) only. Stroke decreased (OR = 0.98 for HD, 0.90 for PD), as did peripheral vascular disease (OR = 0.91 for HD, 0.82 for PD). Lung disease increased in HD (OR = 1.10) but decreased in PD (OR = 0.97). DISCUSSION: Mortality and cardiovascular disease burden have declined for dialysis patients in the United States despite an aging population that is increasingly hypertensive and diabetic. Comorbid disease burdens among HD and PD patients have diverged over time, with PD patients having fewer comorbid conditions.