Table 3.
Baseline patient characteristics by the daily prescribed dosage of digoxin on the 90th day of long-term dialysis
| Characteristic | Dosage of Digoxin (μg/d) |
P | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <55.0 | 55.0 to 62.5 | 62.6 to 120.0 | >120.0 | ||
| N | 1450 | 1238 | 273 | 1446 | |
| Demographic | |||||
| age (years) | 70.2 (0.3) | 70.6 (0.3) | 71.1 (0.6) | 67.3 (0.3) | <0.0001 |
| male gender (%) | 56.8 (0.7) | 59.6 (0.7) | 62.9 (0.7) | 61.8 (0.7) | 0.03 |
| race (%) | |||||
| black | 22.3 (0.6) | 21.3 (0.6) | 14.3 (0.5) | 27.2 (0.6) | <0.0001 |
| other | 6.2 (0.3) | 7.0 (0.3) | 7.3 (0.3) | 7.6 (0.3) | |
| white | 71.4 (0.6) | 71.6 (0.6) | 78.4 (0.6) | 65.2 (0.7) | |
| Access (%) | |||||
| AVF | 20.0 (0.6) | 19.4 (0.5) | 20.1 (0.6) | 19.4 (0.5) | 0.52 |
| catheter | 54.8 (0.7) | 58.6 (0.7) | 59.0 (0.7) | 57.0 (0.7) | |
| graft | 19.9 (0.6) | 18.2 (0.5) | 17.2 (0.5) | 18.7 (0.5) | |
| unknown | 5.4 (0.3) | 3.8 (0.2) | 3.7 (0.2) | 4.9 (0.3) | |
| Hemodynamic | |||||
| SBP (mmHg) | 136.1 (0.5) | 137.4 (0.5) | 137.0 (1.1) | 138.8 (0.4) | 0.002 |
| DBP (mmHg) | 67.1 (0.2) | 67.3 (0.2) | 66.9 (0.5) | 68.8 (0.2) | <0.0001 |
| interdialytic weight gain (kg) | 2.40 (0.02) | 2.40 (0.02) | 2.40 (0.10) | 2.50 (0.02) | 0.03 |
| weight (kg) | 72.8 (0.5) | 74.5 (0.6) | 73.7 (1.0) | 77.6 (0.6) | <0.0001 |
| Comorbidity | |||||
| Charleson index | 5.20 (0.05) | 5.10 (0.05) | 5.10 (0.10) | 5.20 (0.04) | 0.30 |
| diabetes (%) | 67.5 (0.7) | 68.5 (0.6) | 67.0 (0.7) | 72.6 (0.6) | 0.01 |
| Laboratory | |||||
| hemoglobin (g/dl) | 11.40 (0.03) | 11.40 (0.03) | 11.50 (0.07) | 11.30 (0.03) | 0.18 |
| albumin (g/dl) | 3.50 (0.01) | 3.50 (0.01) | 3.50 (0.02) | 3.50 (0.01) | 0.52 |
| potassium (mEq/L) | 4.50 (0.01) | 4.50 (0.01) | 4.50 (0.03) | 4.50 (0.01) | 0.09 |
| calcium (mg/dl) | 8.80 (0.02) | 8.80 (0.02) | 8.80 (0.04) | 8.80 (0.02) | 0.03 |
| creatinine (mg/dl) | 5.30 (0.06) | 5.40 (0.06) | 5.30 (0.10) | 5.40 (0.06) | 0.56 |
| Treatment parameters | |||||
| time (hours) | 3.50 (0.01) | 3.60 (0.01) | 3.60 (0.03) | 3.60 (0.01) | 0.64 |
| dialysate potassium (mEq/L) | 2.43 (0.02) | 2.40 (0.02) | 2.45 (0.03) | 2.37 (0.01) | 0.006 |
| dialysate calcium (mEq/L) | 2.60 (0.01) | 2.60 (0.01) | 2.60 (0.02) | 2.60 (0.01) | 0.41 |
| Medications | |||||
| EPO (1000 U per sessions) | 7.6 (0.1) | 7.4 (0.1) | 7.4 (0.4) | 7.5 (0.1) | 0.91 |
| antiplatelet (%) | 42.8 (0.7) | 46.7 (0.7) | 48.7 (0.7) | 42.4 (0.7) | 0.03 |
| statin (%) | 35.0 (0.7) | 38.2 (0.7) | 39.9 (0.7) | 37.7 (0.7) | 0.21 |
| β blocker (%) | 60.2 (0.7) | 59.2 (0.7) | 59.3 (0.7) | 60.6 (0.7) | 0.89 |
| ACEI or ARB (%) | 46.1 (0.7) | 45.3 (0.7) | 43.6 (0.7) | 44.5 (0.7) | 0.79 |
Data are means (SE). A total of 142 patients who were on digoxin did not have a dosage documented.
Legend: ACEI, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor; ARB, angiotensin receptor blocker; AVF, arteriovenous fistula; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; SBP, systolic blood pressure; EPO, Epogen.