Table 3. Analyses of quality of life, nutritional status, and physical and mental performance using the KDQOL-36 survey, subjective global assessments, Karnofsky performance scale values, and Beck’s depression inventory scores before and after propensity score matching at 3 months versus 1 year after dialysis initiation in the 2 groups based on the timing of dialysis initiation stratified by the median eGFR before dialysis.
| Variables | Before propensity score matching | After propensity score matching | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early dialysis (N = 336) | Late dialysis (N = 329) | P value | Early dialysis (N = 196) | Late dialysis (N = 196) | P Value | |
| At 3 months after dialysis | ||||||
| KDQOL-36 | ||||||
| Physical component summary | 34.0 ± 8.6 | 38.2 ± 9.1 | 0.010 | 34.9 ± 9.4 | 36.7 ± 9.6 | 0.379 |
| Mental component summary | 41.9 ± 9.6 | 40.0 ± 10.0 | 0.291 | 43.2 ± 8.9 | 39.8 ± 10.1 | 0.114 |
| Symptom/problem list | 76.3 ± 17.4 | 76.9 ± 17.0 | 0.846 | 77.5 ± 17.8 | 73.8 ± 17.9 | 0.358 |
| Effect of kidney disease | 66.3 ± 18.3 | 66.6 ± 19.7 | 0.935 | 67.2 ± 19.8 | 62.9 ± 20.8 | 0.345 |
| Burden of kidney disease | 25.4 ± 20.0 | 28.4 ± 21.6 | 0.423 | 24.1 ± 20.6 | 27.8 ± 20.2 | 0.426 |
| Subjective global assessment | 0.339 | 1.000 | ||||
| Well-nourished (n [%]) | 146 (75.3%) | 162 (79.4%) | 87 (75.7%) | 93 (76.2%) | ||
| Mildly-to-moderately malnourished (n [%]) | 48 (24.7%) | 42 (20.6%) | 28 (23.8%) | 29 (23.8%) | ||
| Severely malnourished (n [%]) | - | - | - | - | ||
| Karnofsky performance scale | 71.8 ± 15.7 | 73.9 ± 15.5 | 0.265 | 73.3 ± 15.6 | 71.7 ± 15.5 | 0.510 |
| Beck’s depression inventory | 17.9 ± 10.6 | 16.6 ± 11.5 | 0.394 | 17.1 ± 9.7 | 17.1 ± 11.6 | 0.988 |
| At 1 year after dialysis | ||||||
| KDQOL-36 | ||||||
| Physical component summary | 36.3 ± 10.4 | 37.6 ± 9.7 | 0.576 | 36.5 ± 11.4 | 38.5 ± 10.0 | 0.521 |
| Mental component summary | 41.1 ± 10.3 | 42.7 ± 7.8 | 0.459 | 40.7 ± 10.2 | 44.1 ± 6.9 | 0.211 |
| Symptom/problem list | 81.5 ± 13.9 | 78.0 ± 15.0 | 0.328 | 80.6 ± 14.7 | 79.2 ± 15.3 | 0.760 |
| Effect of kidney disease | 66.4 ± 20.4 | 70.0 ± 20.1 | 0.479 | 62.8 ± 20.5 | 73.9 ± 18.7 | 0.062 |
| Burden of kidney disease | 32.3 ± 29.2 | 36.2 ± 25.4 | 0.548 | 32.8 ± 32.4 | 35.6 ± 25.9 | 0.749 |
| Subjective global assessment | 0.282 | 0.267 | ||||
| Well-nourished (n [%]) | 94 (81.0%) | 101 (87.1%) | 54 (77.1%) | 55 (85.9%) | ||
| Mildly-to-moderately malnourished (n [%]) | 22 (19.0%) | 15 (12.9%) | 16 (22.9%) | 9 (14.1%) | ||
| Severely malnourished (n [%]) | - | - | - | - | ||
| Karnofsky performance scale | 73.1 ± 16.2 | 73.9 ± 14.4 | 0.751 | 73.4 ± 15.8 | 74.8 ± 14.5 | 0.675 |
| Beck’s depression inventory | 18.1 ± 11.0 | 16.9 ± 9.9 | 0.523 | 17.7 ± 10.7 | 15.0 ± 8.0 | 0.200 |
Abbreviations: eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; KDQOL-36, kidney disease quality of life short form 36