Table 4.

Associations between dialysate K and clinical outcomes, by pre-dialysis serum K concentration

	All patients	Pre-dialysis serum K (mEq/L)
Dialysate K (mEq/L)		< 4.0	4.0 – 5.0	5.1 – 6.0	> 6.0
All-cause mortality
DK 3 vs. DK 2  (Ref.)	0.96 (0.91–1.01)	1.03 (0.91–1.17)	0.96 (0.90–1.03)	0.94 (0.85–1.03)	0.97 (0.78–1.20)
Arrhythmia composite
DK 3 vs. DK 2  (Ref.)	0.98 (0.88–1.08)	1.13 (0.86–1.47)	0.91 (0.80–1.04)	1.06 (0.89–1.27)	1.15 (0.81–1.62)

Hazard ratio (95% CI) shown.

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.

N patients (events) in all-cause mortality analyses: N=6300 (1642) for SK < 4.0, N=27525 (6473) for SK 4.0–5.0, 16959 (3985) for SK 5.0–6.0, 4399 (1014) for SK > 6.0.

N patients (events) in arrhythmia composite analyses: N=5105 (350) for SK < 4.0, N=21997 (1607) for SK 4.0–5.0, 14428 (1039) for SK 5.0–6.0, 3981 (304) for SK > 6.0.

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.