Summary
Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate and record the socio-demographic characteristics of patients undergoing dialysis in private clinics in Greece and to explore possible correlations.
Subjects and Methods: The study was conducted in 1498 patients on dialysis in private clinics in Greece and the data analysis was performed with IBM-SPSS 25. 0. Frequency distributions of the baseline descriptive and clinical characteristics of the study patients, as well as 95% confidence intervals for comparison purposes were calculated (estimated using bootstrap techniques). The difference-in-difference test on subgroups of characteristics was performed using χ2, Mann-Whitney & Student t methods. Similar estimates were made on corresponding characteristics in the case of patient mortality. An acceptable significance level of 5% was chosen as the acceptable level of significance.
Results: The age of dialysis inclusion was lower for men (69. 5 ± 13. 9) than for women (72. 2 ± 13. 4). During the years 2014-2018 in which the present study was conducted, 41. 1% (n=615) of the patients were not hospitalized at any hospital compared to 58. 9% (n=883) who were hospitalized at least 1+ times. The main causes of hospitalization were surgical (19. 5%), infections (18. 1%), cardiac causes (16. 4%) and vascular access-related causes (14. 6%).
Conclusions: Both the causes of admission and death of patients on dialysis can be used to the benefit of both the medical and nursing staff and the patients themselves, by implementing a care plan that can increase their survival time.
Key words: chronic kidney failure, chronic kidney disease, Greece, haemodialysis, socio-demographic characteristics
