No Harm or Benefit Linked with Early Dialysis Initiation in the United States

There was no harm or benefit linked with early dialysis initiation in a study of 89,547 US dialysis patients. The patients initiated dialysis in 2008 with eGFRs ranging between 5 and 20 mL/min per 1.73 m², and were grouped into 804 health service areas (HSAs) by zip code. Researchers found eGFR at initiation was not associated with premature mortality over a median of 15.5 months. Only 11% of the variation in average HSA-level eGFR at dialysis initiation was accounted for by patient characteristics, according to theKidney International study.