Table 1.

Patients characteristics at hemodialysis start

	All	CH-	CH+
Number of patients	236	83	153
Age, years	75.4 (62.2 – 82.1)	65.4 (55.2 – 78.0)	74.4 (67.5 – 83.5)**
Female gender, %	34	42	29
Body mass index	25.4 (21.3 – 27.9)	24.4 (20.4 – 27.1)	25.9 (22.0 – 28.2)
Diabetes, %	41	33	45
Long-lasting hypertension, %	67	59	71
Catheter at start, %	43	30	56*
Initial BNP value, pg/mL	593 (175 – 1,433)	291 (118 – 964)	731 (230 – 1,799)*

Data are presented as median (interquartile range) unless indicated otherwise. BNP, brain natriuretic peptide; CH, cardiac history. Comparisons between CH– and CH+ patients were run using Mann-Whitney and χ² tests (* p < 0.001, ** p < 0.0001).