Table 3. One-year incidence rates of major cardiovascular events in patients receiving dialysis according to the number of nephrology out-patient department visits during the critical care period (within 6 months before initiation of dialysis) and the early care period (6–36 months before initiation of dialysis).

Variables	Stroke (%)	P	AMI (%)	P	Mortality (%)	P	MACE (%)	P
Critical care period		<0.001		0.157		<0.001		<0.001
0 visit (n = 363)	51(14.0)		8(2.2)		74(20.4)		113(31.1)
1–2 visits (n = 155)	11(7.1)		0(0.0)		23(14.8)		29(18.7)
≧3 visits (n = 673)	45(6.7)		16(2.4)		63(9.3)		108(16.0)
Early care period		0.008		0.804		0.030		<0.001
0 visit (n = 490)	54(11.0)		12(2.4)		80(16.3)		127(25.9)
1–4 visits (n = 194)	23(11.9)		4(2.1)		29(14.9)		46(23.7)
6–10 visits (n = 113)	10(8.8)		2(1.8)		12(10.6)		21(18.6)
≧11 visits (n = 394)	20(5.1)		6(1.5)		39(9.9)		56(14.2)
Early Referral (n = 701)	53(7.6)	0.050	12(1.7)	0.406	80(11.4)	0.016	123(17.5)	<0.001
Late Referral (n = 490)	54(11.0)		12(2.4)		80(16.3)		127(25.9)

Abbreviations: AMI, acute myocardial infarction; MACE, major cardiovascular event.