BACKGROUND: Men in the United States undergoing renal replacement therapy are more likely than women to receive a kidney transplant. However, the ability to pay may, in part, be responsible for this finding. OBJECTIVE: To compare adult male and female transplantation rates in a setting in which equal access to medical treatment is assumed. METHODS: Using data from the Canadian Organ Replacement Register, the rate of first transplantations was computed for the 20, 131 men and the 13,458 women aged 20 years or older who initiated renal replacement therapy between January 1, 1981, and December 31, 1996. Poisson regression analysis was used to estimate the male-female transplantation rate ratio, adjusting for age, race, province, calendar period, underlying disease leading to renal failure, and dialytic modality. Actuarial survival methods were used to compare transplantation probability for covariable-matched cohorts of men and women. RESULTS: Men experienced 20% greater covariable-adjusted kidney transplantation rates relative to women (rate ratio, 1.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.27). The sex disparity was stronger for cadaveric transplants (rate ratio, 1.23) compared with those from living donors (rate ratio, 1.10). The 5-year probability of receiving a transplant was 47% for men and 39% for women within covariable-matched cohorts (P<.001). The sex disparity in transplantation rates increased with increasing age. The sex effect was weaker among whites and Oriental persons (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Filipino, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Korean) and stronger among blacks, Asian Indians (Indian, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan), and North American Indians (aboriginal). CONCLUSION: Since survival probability and quality of life are superior for patients who undergo transplantation relative to those who undergo dialysis, an increased effort should be made to distribute kidneys available for transplantation more equitably by sex among patients undergoing renal replacement therapy.

Actuarial Analysis↗

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Image-guided insertion of the Uldall tunneled hemodialysis catheter: technical success and clinical follow-up.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the technical success, complication rates, and survival time of the Uldall double-lumen catheter placed by interventional radiologists in patients presenting to a hemodialysis clinic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients eligible for this study included those with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who had failed peripheral vascular access or who were awaiting access at a hemodialysis unit between June 1993 and March 1996. All catheters were placed under fluoroscopic and ultrasound guidance in the angiography suite. RESULTS: Attempts were made to insert 130 catheters into jugular veins in a consecutive series of 61 patients with ESRD. The accumulated catheter experience in this cohort was 15,380 days and the median survival time was 141 days (95% confidence interval [CI]; 116 days-166 days). One hundred twenty-one catheters (93%) were successfully inserted, mainly (94%) into the internal jugular vein. Excellent dialysis blood flow rate was obtained-on average 365 mL/min (95% CI; 350-379 mL/min). The overall infection rate, including exit site (n = 13), sepsis (n = 19), and clavicular osteomyelitis (n = 1), was 2.1 episodes per 1,000 catheter days. CONCLUSIONS: This catheter is recommended for acute and longer term hemodialysis for patients without peripheral vascular access. It can be inserted percutaneously, the same internal jugular vein can be used repeatedly with few complications and good blood flow, and the technique can be easily learned by any experienced angiographer.

Adult↗

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The CAPD peritonitis rate is not improving with time.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adolescent↗

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Gentamicin vestibulotoxicity. Long term disability.

Vestibular toxicity is known to occur from gentamicin. Over a five-year period seven patients with severe and prolonged ataxia from gentamicin vestibular toxicity were seen. Two of these patients were not in renal failure. Case reports of five of these are presented. The possible explanations for prolonged disability are discussed.

Aged↗

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Trends in CAPD technique failure: Canada, 1981-1997.

OBJECTIVE: Although important enhancements to continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) have occurred since its inception, few studies have explicitly evaluated trends over time in CAPD technique failure rates. To assist in quantifying the net benefit of improvements to CAPD for patient outcomes, we examined trends in technique failure rates among Canadian CAPD patients. PATIENTS: Patients initiating renal replacement therapy on CAPD (n = 7110) between 1981 and 1997. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Technique failure (i.e., switch to hemodialysis). RESULTS: Total follow-up was 12,831 patient-years (pt-yr). There were 1976 technique failures, for a crude CAPD failure rate of 154.0/1000 pt-yr. Technique failure rate ratios (RR) estimated using Poisson regression and adjusted for age, gender, race, province, primary renal diagnosis, and follow-up time, were significantly reduced for the 1990-93 [RR = 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) = (0.68, 0.83)], 1994-95 [RR = 0.83, CI (0.75, 0.93)], and 1996-97 [RR = 0.78, CI (0.70, 0.87)] calendar periods relative to 1981-89 (RR = 1, reference). Among cause-specific technique failure rates, the greatest improvement was observed for peritonitis-attributable technique failure, with RR = 0.46, CI (0.41, 0.50) for 1990-97 relative to 1981-89. However, rates of technique failure due to inadequate dialysis were significantly elevated for the 1990-97 period [RR = 1.68, CI (1.44, 1.96)]. CONCLUSIONS: The collection of more detailed data on practice patterns would enable future studies to elucidate the cause-and-effect relationship between CAPD descriptors and technique failure, and hence assist in clinical decision-making.

Adolescent↗

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Nutritional assessment of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients.

This study revealed the following. Malnutrition was frequent (41.6%) in patients on CAPD for less than three months and was present in 18.1% of patients on CAPD for longer than 3 months. Fifty percent of these malnourished patients returned to normal on conventional nutritional management within 2 to 6 months, but 10% remained malnourished throughout the study period. There was increased mortality among malnourished patients, but we were unable to demonstrate that the state of nutrition was an independent risk factor, because of the increased prevalence of other co-morbid risk factors known to influence survival and because of the limitation of a small sample size. The influence, if any, of nutritional state as an independent risk factor on the survival of CAPD patients should be answered, because malnutrition is potentially reversible with aggressive nutritional interventions, such as enteral, parenteral, or intraperitoneal supplementation.

Humans↗

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New and prevalent patients with end-stage renal disease in Canada. A portrait of the year 2000.

The number of patients initiating treatment for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has increased dramatically in Canada and other countries. To assist healthcare planners, the prevalence of ESRD in Canada has been projected to the year 2000 using a Markov modelling technique. Significant increases in ESRD are expected in Canada during the next decade, particularly among the elderly and diabetic populations: estimated increases in prevalence rates of ESRD between 1992 and the year 2000 were 78% and 154% for non diabetic and diabetic populations respectively. These expected increases did not differ significantly between the treatment groups, except among patients with diabetes, in whom projected increases in the prevalence of functioning transplant was smaller than for hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. Because the current Canadian prevalence rates are lower than those of some other countries, such as the United States and Japan, these expected trends in prevalence appear reasonable, and illustrate the growing healthcare needs of the ESRD population in Canada during the next decade.

Adolescent↗

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Comparing mortality rates on CAPD/CCPD and hemodialysis. The Canadian experience: fact or fiction?

OBJECTIVE: To compare mortality rates on hemodialysis (HD) to rates on continuous ambulatory/cyclic peritoneal dialysis (CAPD/CCPD), to contrast our results with those of other recent investigations, and to discuss reasons for discrepancies. DATA SOURCES: Patient-specific data obtained from the Canadian Organ Replacement Register on patients initiating renal replacement therapy (RRT) between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 1995 (n = 14 483). Recent mortality comparisons of CAPD and HD. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mortality rate ratio (RR) based on "as-treated" (AT) analysis incorporating treatment modality switches and adjusting for age, primary renal diagnosis, and comorbid conditions using Poisson regression. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated using Cox regression and based on an "intent-to-treat" (ITT) analysis wherein patients were classified based on dialytic modality received on follow-up day 90. RESULTS: Adjusted mortality rates were significantly decreased on CAPD/CCPD relative to HD [RR = 0.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) = (0.69, 0.77)] based on the AT analysis. Most of the protective effect of CAPD/CCPD was concentrated in the first 2 years of follow-up post-RRT initiation. Based on the ITT analysis, the estimated CAPD/ CCPD effect was greatly reduced, with HR = 0.93 (0.87, 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: We provide further evidence that CAPD/CCPD is not an inferior dialytic modality to HD, particularly in the short term. Comparing mortality rates on CAPD/CCPD and HD is inherently difficult due to the potential for bias. Discrepancies between our results and those of previous investigations, and variability in findings among previous studies, relate to differences in clinical and demographic setting, patient populations, study design, statistical methods, and interaction between the dialytic modality effect and various other covariables.

Canada↗