Differences in the treatment of male and female patients with end-stage renal disease

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether there is a difference in the allocation of types of dialysis to male and female patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Design: Descriptive study.

Setting: Canada.

Patients: All patients registered with the Canadian Organ Replacement Register (CORR) whose treatment began between 1981 and 1991. Data were obtained for 19,732 patients, of whom 18,010 had sufficiently complete data and were being treated with either peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis 3 months after the diagnosis of ESRD.

Outcome measures: Proportions of patients receiving peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis according to sex.

Results: Significantly more male (58.1%) than female (50.8%) patients were receiving hemodialysis 3 months after diagnosis (p < 0.00001). Multivariate analysis to control for the possible confounding effects of age, province of treatment, diagnosis, concurrent illness and year of diagnosis did not explain the difference.

Conclusions: In Canada from 1981 to 1991 male patients were more likely than female patients to receive hemodialysis for the treatment of ESRD. Additional research is needed to explain this finding.