Mortality of diabetic on chronic dialysis in Tunisia

Survival rates of diabetic patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) are reported to be poorer in Tunisia than in developed countries. This study aims to specify the epidemio-logical, clinical, and biological characteristics of diabetic disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and comorbidities at the initiation of HD and investigate factors associated with mortality during the dialysis period. We retrospectively analyzed the outcome of diabetic patients who were initiated on HD from 2007 to 2012 at the Rabta Hospital of Tunis. During the follow-up period, all morbid events and deaths were recorded. Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis were performed to identify risk factors associated with mortality in our population. The study population included 142 patients. The mean age was 58.7 ± 11.9 years. The sex ratio male/female was 1.4. One hundred and twenty-seven patients were type 2 diabetics (89.4%). Diabetic nephropathy was the main initial nephropathy (87.3%). CKD was diagnosed at Stages 4 or 5 in 95.1% of cases. HD was started in emergency conditions in 68.6% of cases. The one-year and the five-year survival rates were 42% and 17%, respectively. At initiation of HD, low socioeconomic status (P = 0.001), advanced age (P = 0.008), low body mass index (P = 0.04), history of stroke (P = 0.04), peripheral neuropathy (P = 0.02), initial vascular access (P = 0.03), secondary hyperpara-thyroidism (P = 0.03), nephrotic-range proteinuria (P = 0.01), and glycated hemoglobin ≤7% (P = 0.03) were associated with higher mortality rate. During dialysis period, cardiovascular events (P = 0.02), infectious complications (P = 0.04), and secondary hyperparathyroidism (P = 0.04) were significantly more noticeable among deceased patients. Due to poor survival rates of diabetic patients on HD, prevention, early detection, and management of diabetic CKD patients should be the way to go forward.