Differences between the Incident and Prevalent Hemodialysis Patients in Egypt

Abstract

Background and Aim: The number of patients on hemodialysis (HD) increases continuously. The HD population is usually divided into early and late HD patients according to the duration of HD, that are known as incident and prevalent groups. Still, there is a debate about the exact definition of both the incident and prevalent groups. Furthermore, predictors of death of both of these groups are not yet identified, especially in Egyptian HD patients. We aimed to compare between the incident and prevalent HD patients as well as to define predictors of mortality among each of these groups. Study Design and Methodology: This prospective multicenter study was started in June 2016, comprising 2123 HD patients recruited from twenty-five Egyptian HD centers. Patients were classified according to HD duration into two groups: Incident group including patients with HD duration equals to or less than 6 months, and a prevalent group including patients who had been maintained on HD for more than 6 months. All patients were observed for one and half years and their demographic data, laboratory findings and mortality events were recorded. Results: In comparison to the prevalent group, the incident HD patients showed significantly lower hemoglobin, serum albumin, urea reduction ratio, serum phosphorus, and serum ferritin but higher average erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESA) dose. There was significantly a higher number of patients with hypertension in the incident group, while there was no significant difference in diabetes mellitus or ischemic heart disease in both groups. There were a higher number of patients with positive hepatitis C virus antibodies and hyperparathyroidism in the prevalent group. By the end of the study, the mortality frequency was found to be significantly higher in the incident than the prevalent groups. Older age and corrected serum calcium were significant predictors of mortality in the total studied group as well as the prevalent group. However, no significant predictors of mortality could be detected among the incident group. Conclusion: The incident HD group tends to show higher frequency of hypertension, laboratory findings suggestive of malnutrition as well as higher frequency of mortality with different pattern of mortality predictors compared to the prevalent group.