Mortality Rates Declining for Young Dialysis Patients.

According to USRDS data on more than 23,000 young dialysis patients, mortality rates were 112.2 per 1000 person-years for children under age 5 who initiated dialysis in 1990–1994 compared with 83.4 per 1000 person-years for those initiating dialysis in 2005–2010. Of those aged 5 to 21 years at treatment initiation, mortality rates were 44.6 and 25.9 per 1000 person-years in the two respective time spans. Each 5-year increment was associated with a 20% reduced risk of mortality in younger children and a 12% reduced risk in older children and adolescents. The findings are published in JAMA.