Table 1.
Characteristics of patients initiating dialysis in the United States between 2000 and 2009
| Characteristic | Veteran, Initiated Dialysis within VA (n=16,761) | Veteran, Initiated Dialysis outside VA, Paid for by VA (n=4013) | Veteran, Initiated Dialysis outside VA, Not Paid for by VA (n=99,436) | Nonveteran (n=851,333) | P Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renal function | |||||
| eGFR (ml/min per 1.73 m2) | 9.27±4.63 | 10.17±4.81 | 10.91±5.68 | 9.73±5.37 | <0.001 |
| eGFR ≥10 ml/min per 1.73 m2, n (%) | 5754 (34.3) | 1725 (43.0) | 47,303 (47.6) | 322,131 (37.8) | <0.001 |
| eGFR ≥15 ml/min per 1.73 m2, n (%) | 1391 (8.3) | 470 (11.7) | 16,615 (16.7) | 102,651 (12.1) | <0.001 |
| Age (yr) | 64.1±11.7) | 62.4±11.0 | 70.3±11.8 | 62.1±15.5 | <0.001 |
| Age category, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| <55 yr | 3563 (21.3) | 867 (21.6) | 10,894 (11.0) | 255,369 (30.0) | |
| 55–64 yr | 5436 (32.4) | 1694 (42.2) | 17,341 (17.4) | 186,927 (22.0) | |
| 65–74 yr | 4037 (24.1) | 758 (19.0) | 27,846 (28.0) | 203,369 (23.9) | |
| 75–84 yr | 3243 (19.4) | 615 (15.3) | 36,081 (36.3) | 162,990 (19.2) | |
| ≥85 yr | 482 (2.9) | 79 (2.0) | 7274 (7.3) | 42,678 (5.0) | |
| Women, n (%) | 303 (1.8) | 59 (1.5) | 5996 (6.0) | 429,890 (50.5) | <0.001 |
| Race, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| White | 9661 (57.6) | 2649 (66.0) | 75,825 (76.3) | 546,329 (64.2) | |
| Black | 6655 (39.7) | 1219 (30.4) | 20,764 (20.9) | 250,522 (29.4) | |
| Asian | 221 (1.3) | 71 (1.8) | 1497 (1.5) | 36,115 (4.2) | |
| Native American | 139 (0.8) | 65 (1.6) | 1115 (1.1) | 9873 (1.2) | |
| Other/missing | 85 (0.5) | 9 (0.2) | 235 (0.2) | 8494 (1.0) | |
| Hispanic | 1596 (9.5) | 282 (7.0) | 5515 (5.6) | 121,422 (14.3) | <0.001 |
| Employment status, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Employed full- or part-time | 1042 (6.2) | 263 (6.6) | 7446 (7.5) | 89,444 (10.5) | |
| Unemployed | 2941 (17.6) | 693 (17.3) | 8976 (9.0) | 180,104 (21.2) | |
| Retired/homemaker | 12,116 (72.3) | 2921 (72.8) | 78,866 (79.3) | 531,987 (62.5) | |
| Other/missing | 662 (4.0) | 136 (3.4) | 4148 (4.2) | 49,798 (5.9) | |
| Rurality, n (%)a | <0.001 | ||||
| Urban | 10,556 (63.1) | 1753 (44.0) | 55,249 (55.7) | 519,764 (61.3) | |
| Rural | 6026 (36.0) | 2153 (54.0) | 43,086 (43.5) | 323,403 (38.1) | |
| Highly rural | 136 (0.8) | 79 (2.0) | 795 (0.8) | 5,158 (0.6) | |
| Dialysis type, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Hemodialysis | 16,361 (97.6) | 3730 (93.0) | 92,894 (93.4) | 792,575 (93.1) | |
| Peritoneal dialysis | 395 (2.4) | 283 (7.1) | 6501 (6.4) | 57,503 (6.8) | |
| Other/Missing | 5 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 141 (0.1) | 1255 (0.2) | |
| BMI category, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Underweight, <18.5 kg/m2 | 712 (4.3) | 131 (3.3) | 3596 (3.6) | 38,965 (4.6) | |
| Normal weight, 18.5–24.9 kg/m2 | 5840 (34.8) | 1214 (30.3) | 36,738 (37.0) | 288,070 (33.8) | |
| Overweight, 25–29.9 kg/m2 | 5402 (32.2) | 1255 (31.3) | 32,215 (32.4) | 235,824 (27.7) | |
| Obese class 1, 30–34.9 kg/m2 | 2817 (16.8) | 762 (19.0) | 15,872 (16.0) | 140,595 (16.5) | |
| Obese class 2, 35–39.9 kg/m2 | 1125 (6.7) | 377 (9.4) | 6099 (6.1) | 72,114 (8.5) | |
| Obese class 3, ≥40.0 kg/m2 | 699 (4.2) | 229 (5.7) | 4011 (4.0) | 67,012 (7.9) | |
| Missing | 166 (1.0) | 45 (1.1) | 905 (0.9) | 8753 (1.0) | |
| Serum albumin, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| ≥3 g/dl | 8793 (52.5) | 2049 (51.1) | 48,927 (49.2) | 386,216 (45.4) | |
| <3 g/dl | 5645 (33.7) | 1001 (24.9) | 26,481 (26.6) | 252,890 (29.7) | |
| Missing | 2323 (13.9) | 963 (24.0) | 24,028 (24.2) | 212,227 (24.9) | |
| Primary renal disease, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Diabetes mellitus | 8128 (48.5) | 2103 (52.4) | 41,434 (41.7) | 391,876 (46.0) | |
| Hypertension | 4282 (25.6) | 1039 (25.9) | 32,066 (32.3) | 234,651 (27.6) | |
| GN | 1197 (7.1) | 267 (6.7) | 6976 (7.0) | 63,851 (7.5) | |
| Acute tubular necrosis | 409 (2.4) | 67 (1.7) | 2900 (2.9) | 19,734 (2.3) | |
| Other renal disease | 1928 (11.5) | 398 (9.9) | 11,838 (11.9) | 107,799 (12.7) | |
| Missing | 817 (4.9) | 139 (3.5) | 4222 (4.3) | 33,422 (3.9) | |
| Comorbid conditions, n (%) | |||||
| Cardiac | 7680 (45.8) | 1868 (46.6) | 57,820 (58.2) | 390,671 (45.9) | <0.001 |
| Stroke/transient ischemic attack | 1795 (10.7) | 406 (10.1) | 11,562 (11.6) | 79,404 (9.3) | <0.001 |
| Peripheral vascular disease | 2455 (14.7) | 627 (15.6) | 19,479 (19.6) | 118,104 (13.9) | <0.001 |
| Hypertension | 14,249 (85.0) | 3444 (85.8) | 81,066 (81.5) | 698,893 (82.1) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 10,137 (60.5) | 2586 (64.4) | 53,641 (54.0) | 484,518 (56.9) | <0.001 |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 1643 (9.8) | 449 (11.2) | 12,668 (12.7) | 67,973 (8.0) | <0.001 |
| Malignancy | 1518 (9.1) | 278 (7.0) | 10,421 (10.5) | 53,995 (6.3) | <0.001 |
| Smoking | 1598 (9.5) | 507 (12.6) | 5585 (5.6) | 47,680 (5.6) | <0.001 |
| Alcohol abuse | 591 (3.5) | 140 (3.5) | 1546 (1.6) | 12,203 (1.4) | <0.001 |
| Illicit drug use | 615 (3.7) | 83 (2.1) | 703 (0.7) | 10,308 (1.2) | <0.001 |
| Inability to walk or transfer | 945 (5.6) | 190 (4.7) | 5826 (5.9) | 49,399 (5.8) | 0.02 |
| Prior nephrology care, n (%)b | <0.001 | ||||
| None | 1817 (23.9) | 556 (23.1) | 12,004 (26.8) | 124,127 (31.6) | |
| <6 mo | 775 (10.2) | 304 (12.6) | 5295 (11.8) | 43,338 (11.0) | |
| 6–12 mo | 1946 (25.6) | 601 (25.0) | 10,351 (23.1) | 88,914 (22.6) | |
| >12 mo | 2330 (30.6) | 678 (28.2) | 12,169 (27.2) | 90,014 (22.9) | |
| Missing | 739 (9.7) | 267 (11.1) | 4908 (11.0) | 47,054 (12.0) | |
| Risk quintile, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| 1 (low risk) | 2848 (17.0) | 972 (24.4) | 11,824 (11.9) | 177,988 (21.0) | |
| 2 | 4126 (24.7) | 1118 (28.1) | 15,261 (15.4) | 173,126 (20.4) | |
| 3 | 3979 (23.8) | 895 (22.5) | 20,319 (20.5) | 168,438 (19.9) | |
| 4 | 3250 (19.4) | 589 (14.8) | 25,770 (26.0) | 164,022 (19.3) | |
| 5 (high risk) | 2515 (15.0) | 411 (10.3) | 25,956 (26.2) | 164,749 (19.4) |
Values expressed with a plus/minus sign are the mean±SD.BMI, body mass index; VA, Department of Veterans Affairs.
a
Data were missing for 3385 patients (0.3%).
b
Data were only collected on the 448,187 patients who initiated dialysis after June 1, 2005