Table 1.

Patient characteristics of the interview survey patients

Variables	HD (n=308)	PD (n=246)	P value
Male gender	156 (50.7)	124 (50.4)	0.96
Age (years)	61.0 (12.7)	56.2 (13.9)	<0.01
<50	68 (22.1)	71 (28.9)
50–59	79 (25.7)	67 (27.2)
60–69	76 (24.7)	70 (28.5)
≥70	85 (27.6)	38 (15.5)
Comorbidities
Diabetes mellitus	130 (42.2)	74 (30.1)	<0.01
Hypertension	204 (66.2)	193 (78.5)	<0.01
Cancer	17 (5.5)	7 (2.9)	0.13
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	5 (1.6)	2 (0.81)	0.40
Cirrhosis of liver	5 (1.6)	3 (1.2)	0.91
Dementia	3 (1.0)	4 (1.6)	0.50
Cerebrovascular disease	8 (2.6)	6 (2.4)	0.91
Peripheral vascular disease	15 (4.9)	8 (3.25)	0.34
Cardiac dysrhythmia	36 (11.7)	20 (8.1)	0.17
Ischaemic heart disease	22 (7.1)	6 (2.4)	0.01
Myocardial infarction	11 (3.6)	8 (3.3)	0.84
Chronic heart failure	13 (4.2)	9 (3.7)	0.74
Cause of end-stage renal disease
Chronic glomerulonephritis	111 (36.0)	82 (33.3)	0.44
Diabetes mellitus	118 (38.3)	71 (28.9)	0.11
Hypertension	108 (35.1)	52 (21.1)	0.02
Hereditary polycystic kidney disease	10 (3.3)	6 (2.4)	0.83
Chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis	5 (1.6)	7 (2.9)	0.19
Lupus nephritis	4 (1.3)	11 (4.5)	<0.01
Others	51 (16.6)	43 (17.5)	0.21
Marital status			0.18
Singled	45 (14.6)	52 (21.1)
Married	210 (68.2)	159 (64.6)
Divorced	25 (8.1)	15 (6.2)
Widowed	28 (9.1)	20 (8.1)
Education years			0.09
Below primary school	26 (8.4)	15 (6.1)
Primary school	77 (25.0)	51 (20.7)
Junior high school	50 (16.2)	31 (12.6)
Senior high school	88 (28.6)	69 (28.1)
College	59 (19.2)	66 (26.8)
Above college	8 (2.6)	14 (5.7)
Family income (NTD)			0.17
<30 000	93 (30.2)	80 (32.5)
30 000–49 999	99 (32.1)	61 (24.8)
50 000–69 999	61 (19.8)	46 (18.7)
70 000–99 999	31 (10.1)	25 (10.1)
100 000–149 999	9 (2.9)	23 (9.4)
150 000–199 999	6 (2.0)	8 (3.3)
≥200 000	9 (2.9)	3 (1.2)

Data were number (%) or mean (SD).

HD, haemodialysis; NTD, new Taiwan dollars (1 US dollar=30 NTD); PD, peritoneal dialysis.