FIGURE 2.

Change in dry weight during the first 6 months of the cohort as a predictor of mortality in 57,247 patients receiving hemodialysis (HD) who survived through the first 2 calendar quarters of the cohort and for whom post-HD dry-weight values for the 6 consecutive months were available. Compared with patients with stable weight (dry weight gain or loss of <1%), a graded decline in dry weight was associated with an increase in the subsequent risk of death, whereas weight gain over 6 months was incrementally associated with a greater 5-year survival rate. Cox regression–based hazard ratios of death are represented by unfilled circles for the unadjusted model, filled circles for the model adjusted for case mix, and unfilled triangles for models adjusted for case mix and the malnutrition-inflammation-cachexia syndrome (MICS). Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. See legend of Figure 1 for the list of covariates in multivariate adjustment.