Table 1.

Patient demographics and baseline characteristics

Characteristic	Fish Oil (N = 99) [% patients]	Placebo (N = 97) [% patients]
Mean age in years (range)	62.5 (28–88)	63.4 (27–87)
Male sex	47 [47]	51 [53]
Ethnicity: Caucasian	64 [65]	59 [61]
Black	16 [16]	15 [15]
South Asian1	5 [5]	7 [7]
Southeast Asian2	9 [9]	7 [7]
Other3	5 [5]	9 [9]
Etiology of end stage renal disease
Diabetes	49 [49]	39 [40]
Glomerulonephritis	14 [14]	22 [23]
Hypertension	27 [27]	21 [22]
Tubulointerstitial disorders	1 [1]	2 [2]
Cystic or Hereditary disorders	2 [2]	5 [5]
Other/unknown	6 [6]	8 [8]
Hemodialysis duration in years (range)	2.76 (0–34)	2.84 (0–25)
Comorbidities
Diabetes	51 [52]	52 [54]
Hypertension	84 [85]	84 [87]
Coronary artery disease	32 [32]	34 [35]
Peripheral vascular disease	17 [17]	12 [12]
Congestive heart failure	26 [26]	13 [13]
Cerebrovascular Disease	12 [12]	15 [15]
Current or prior smoker	57 [58]	50 [52]
History of malignancy	14 [14]	12 [12]
Mean Lipids (range)4: Baseline LDL	1.81 (.14–4.52)	1.79 (.20–5.24)
Baseline Total Cholesterol	3.76 (1.78–6.17)	3.66 (.93–8.29)
Baseline Triglyceride	2.06 (.47–6.46)	1.80 (.40–7.8)
Medications: Lipid lowering agent	67 [68]	55 [57]
Aspirin	57 [58]	51 [53]
Warfarin	26 [26]	20 [21]
Clopidogrel	11 [11]	13 [13]
Dipyridamole and aspirin	0 [0]	1 [1]
Prior Access	63 [64]	63 [65]
Mean number of prior accesses (range)	1.1 (0–5)	1.2 (0–7)
Number >=2 prior accesses	26 [26]	27 [28]
Number with prior fistulas	73 [74]	72 [74]
Predialysis graft creation	17 [17]	12 [12]
Graft location: Upper arm	34 [34]	43 [44]
Forearm	61 [62]	49 [51]
Leg	4 [4]	5 [5]
Graft configuration: Loop	71 [72]	70 [72]
: Straight	28 [28]	27 [28]

¹South Asian: including patients of East Indian, Pakistani, and Punjabi origins; also known as “Indian sub-continent”

²Southeast Asian: including patients of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indo-Chinese origins

³Others: including patients of Aboriginal, Arabic, Hispanic, Polynesian, mixed, or unknown ethnic origins

⁴ mmol/L