Table 2 The characteristics of 3 patient groups, non-ESA, ESA-short, and ESA-long

Patients number

271

788

204

Age, years

63.8 ± 14.9

64.2 ± 13.7

67.0 ± 13.9

.021

Male, %

66

65

61

.546

Diabetes, %

47

47

44

.800

BMI, kg/m²

22.3 ± 5.8

23.3 ± 4.5

23.3 ± 4.0

.016

Duration of nephrologist care, days

117 [5, 923]

715 [281, 1723]

872 [307, 1748]

.000

Vascular access, %

46

74

86

.000

Diabetic nephropathy

44

45

39

.404

Systolic BP, mmHg

158 ± 25

154 ± 25

154 ± 25

.070

Diastolic BP, mmHg

82 ± 15

78 ± 14

80 ± 15

.000

CTR, %

55 ± 8

53 ± 6

53 ± 6

.002

Hemoglobin, g/dL

8.6 ± 1.6

8.7 ± 1.5

9.5 ± 1.4

.000

Hemoglobin/dose of ESA^a

-

0.51 [0.36, 0.73]

0.40 [0.28, 0.72]

.000

Albumin, g/dL

3.3 ± 0.6

3.4 ± 0.6

3.5 ± 0.5

.002

Creatinine, mg/dL

8.9 ± 3.4

9.6 ± 3.3

9.6 ± 3.1

.012

eGFR, mL/min/1.73²

5.7 ± 3.0

5.1 ± 1.9

4.9 ± 2.0

.000

Total cholesterol, mg/dL

186 ± 64

172 ± 47

162 ± 44

.000

Triglyceride, mg/dL

122 [84, 182]

109 [78, 154]

110 [83, 150]

.082

HDL-C, mg/dL

50 ± 19

49 ± 17

47 ± 16

.473

Calcium, mg/dL

7.8 ± 1.1

7.9 ± 1.0

8.0 ± 1.0

.013

Phosphate, mg/dL

6.3 ± 1.8

6.0 ± 1.5

6.3 ± 1.6

.010

Ca x P product

47 ± 16

47 ± 12

49 ± 15

.067

i-PTH, pg/mL

291 [171, 421]

265 [168, 403]

291 [168, 446]

.176

CRP, mg/dL

0.10 [0.05, 0.17]

0.10 [0.02, 0.13]

0.14 [0.04, 0.20]

.000

glucose, mg/dL

132 ± 55

140 ± 52

138 ± 50

.156

Fe, μg/dL

72 ± 36

67 ± 34

65 ± 38

.167

TIBC, μg/dL

231 ± 56

233 ± 45

236 ± 43

.644

Ferritin, ng/dL

140 [73, 282]

117 [57, 204]

105 [49, 193]

.077

Dose of ESA, per month

0

12,000 [12,000, 24,000]

24,000 [12,000, 36,000]

.000

ARB/ACE-I, %

56

67

65

.003

Vitamin D, %

21

31

44

.000

AST-120, %

9

22

18

.000

Iron, %

10

21

23

.001