NASHVILLE—Hispanic hemodialysis (HD) patients have a significantly higher incidence of catheter-related bacteremia compared with African-American HD patients, data show.
Narendre Goel, MD, and coworkers at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in Bronx, N.Y., studied 40 Hispanic and 26 African-American patients who received HD for 7,625 and 4,793 catheter-days, respectively.
The overall rate of catheter-related bacteremia was 1.05 per 1,000 catheter-days. The rate, per 1,000 catheter-days, was 1.57 for Hispanics vs. 0.2 for African Americans, a significant difference between the groups. The mean catheter duration was 158.8 and 171.7 days, respectively.
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The researchers, who reported their findings here at the National Kidney Foundation 2009 Spring Clinical Meetings, stated that the higher rate of catheter-related bacteremia in Hispanics is likely due to their higher incidence of risk factors and comorbidities. For example, Hispanics were three times as likely as African Americans to have diabetes mellitus.
