ORLANDO—Patients receiving home hemodialysis (HHD) are younger and more likely to be Caucasian and male than patients receiving in-center (IC) hemodialysis, according to a study presented here at the 2008 Annual Dialysis Conference. HHD patients also have lower Charlson co-morbidity scores than IC patients.
“Studies that report outcomes for HHD patients need to control for these differences,” the investigators concluded.
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Joel D. Glickman, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues examined HHD and IC hemodialysis patients receiving their treatment through DaVita during three one-year periods (2005, 2006, and 2007). The HHD program grew from 148 patients in 2005 to 365 in 2006, and 876 in 2007.
The mean age of the HHD patients was 50.8, 50.9, and 51.5 years in 2005, 2006, and 2007; the mean age of the IC patients was about 61 years for each of these years.
The proportion of male patients during these years was about 64%, 68%, and 67% in the HHD group compared with about 55% for each year in the IC group. The proportion of Caucasian patients in 2005, 2006, and 2007 was 54%, 60%, and 64% in the HHD group compared with 38% for each year in the IC group. Charlson co-morbidity index scores were lower in the HHD group for all three years.
