Mortality rates among patients with end-stage renal disease in Canada, 1981-86.

We assessed the mortality rates by age, sex, race, blood type, primary diagnosis, treatment and transplantation history of 8432 patients in Canada for whom end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was diagnosed between 1981 and 1986. Significant differences in the probability of dying were found between those with and without diabetes mellitus, between those who had received a renal transplant and those who had not, between white and nonwhite patients and between various age groups. The mortality rates of the ESRD patients were at least three times higher than those of the general Canadian population. Primary diagnosis and treatment were significantly associated with the risk of dying among the ESRD patients. For those who had received a transplant, the length of time spent waiting for a transplant was positively associated with the risk of death from ESRD. Patients who had received peritoneal dialysis before transplantation had a higher risk of death than those who had received either hemodialysis (risk ratio 1.3) or transplantation (risk ratio 3.2) as the first treatment. No significant differences were found in the cause of death between those who had received peritoneal dialysis and those who had received hemodialysis. Almost half of the deaths among women without diabetes who had received a transplant were due to infection.