Late nephrology referral and mortality among patients with end-stage renal disease: a propensity score analysis

Background: Late nephrology referral has been associated with adverse outcomes among patients with end-stage renal disease; however, its relationship to mortality is unclear. We examined the impact of timing of nephrology care relative to initiation of dialysis on mortality after initiation of dialysis. Methods: Data from the Dialysis Morbidity and Mortality Study - Wave II, a prospective study of incident dialysis patients, were used. Late referral (LR) was defined as first nephrology visit <4 months and early referral (ER) as first nephrology visit >or=4 months prior to initiation of dialysis. Propensity scores (PS) were estimated using logistic regression to predict the probability that a given patient was LR. A Cox proportional hazards model was built to examine the association between timing of nephrology referral and mortality. © Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation