Table 3.

Associations between dialysate K and clinical outcomes

		HR (95% CI), All-cause mortality		HR (95% CI), Arrhythmia composite^
Dialysate K (mEq/L)	N patients (%)	Unadjusted	Adjusted*	Unadjusted	Adjusted*
1.0 – 1.5	8114 (15%)	0.96 (0.90–1.03)	1.04 (0.97–1.11)	1.09 (0.95–1.24)	1.14 (1.00–1.30)
2.0 – 2.5	33017 (61%)	1 (Ref.)	1 (Ref.)	1 (Ref.)	1 (Ref.)
3.0 – 4.0	13405 (25%)	1.13 (1.07–1.18)	0.95 (0.90–1.00)	1.05 (0.96–1.15)	0.95 (0.86–1.04)

HR: Hazard ratio; Cox models stratified by DOPPS phase, country, US large dialysis organization (all-cause mortality only), and accounted for facility clustering.

^{^}Arrhythmia composite includes sudden death or arrhythmia-related hospitalizations.

For the arrhythmia composite outcome, 45,511 patients (3300 events, 7%) were eligible for the analysis after excluding facilities where cause of death and/or hospitalization was not obtained.

^*Adjustments: age, sex, vintage, 13 comorbidities, vascular access, BMI, albumin, nPCR, serum Ca, serum phosphorus, serum phosphorus squared, serum bicarbonate, dialysate bicarbonate, hemoglobin, treatment time, Kt/V.