Gender-based comparison of clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory characteristics in hemodialysis patients: a...

The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory characteristics of male and female patients with kidney disease admitted for hemodialysis.

This retrospective, observational, cross-sectional study analyzed the clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory data from electronic health records of patients admitted for hemodialysis at a university hospital between January 2022 and November 2023, comparing men's and women's profiles. All adult patients were consecutively included, except those with missing data.

A total of 163 patients were included: 53.9% of whom were male and 43.4% self-identified as white. Chronic kidney disease was diagnosed at admission in 78.5% of cases, with diabetes mellitus being the leading etiology, affecting 20.4% of men and 26.6% of women. Men had significantly higher serum creatinine (7.9 vs. 6.3 mg/dL; p<0.001), potassium (4.8 vs. 4.6 mEq/L, p=0.039), and phosphorus levels (5.9 vs. 5.0 mg/dL; p=0.004), whereas women had significantly higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol cholesterol (46 vs. 37 mg/dL; p<0.001), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol cholesterol (120.4 vs. 97.8 mg/dL; p=0.004), and total cholesterol (198 vs. 161 mg/dL; p<0.001). Among patients with diabetes mellitus, women more frequently used statins (67.7 vs. 42.4%; p=0.042) and angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockers (58.1 vs. 27.3%; p=0.013). They also had higher total cholesterol (199 vs. 156 mg/dL; p=0.005) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol cholesterol levels (117 vs. 92 mg/dL; p=0.043), while men had higher serum phosphorous levels (6.3 vs. 5.0 mg/dL; p=0.028).

Significant gender-based differences were identified in the clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory characteristics of patients admitted for hemodialysis. Men presented higher serum creatinine, phosphorus, and potassium levels, whereas women showed higher cholesterol fractions and greater use of statins and angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockers.