The effect of timing of initiation of renal replacement therapy on mortality: A retrospective case–control study

To determine if earlier initiation of renal replacement therapy (RRT) is associated with improved survival in patients with severe acute kidney injury.

We performed a retrospective case–control study of propensity-matched groups with multivariable logistic regression using Akaike Information Criteria to adjust for non-matched variables in a surgical ICU in a tertiary care hospital.

We matched 169 of 205 (82%) patients with new initiation of RRT (EARLY group) to 169 similar patients who did not initiate RRT on that day (DEFERRED group). Eighteen (11%) of DEFERRED eventually received RRT before discharge. By univariate analysis, ICU mortality was higher in EARLY (n = 60 (36%) vs. n = 23 (14%), p < 0.001) as was hospital mortality (n = 73 (43%) vs. n = 44 (26%), p = 0.001). Of the 18 RRT patients in DEFERRED, 12 (67%) died in ICU and 13 (72%) in hospital. After propensity matching and logistic regression, we found that EARLY initiation of RRT was associated with a more than doubling of ICU mortality (aOR = 2.310, 95% confidence interval = 1.254–4.257, p = 0.007). However, after similar adjustment, there was no difference in hospital mortality (aOR = 1.283, 95% CI = 0.753–2.186, p = 0.360).

While ICU mortality was increased in the EARLY group, there was no difference in hospital mortality between EARLY and DEFERRED groups.