Results:

Characteristics of the Study Population:

In 2016 and 2017, we identified 2187954 patients admitted with the diagnosis of ESRD. Of these, 242075 are ESRD with LGIB, and 1945879 ESRD only. The mean age in the ESRD with LGIB and ESRD groups was 64.4±14.2 years and 61.4±15.6 years, respectively. Before propensity matching, there was a statistically significant difference observed with age, sex, race, hospital bed size, hospital region, discharge disposition, hospital teaching status, insurance, Charlson comorbidity index. There was also a significant difference with the comorbidities, which included diabetes (D.M.), obesity, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease (CAD), chronic lung disease and CHF [Table 1].
All covariates from were used to generate a propensity score. We assessed the matched cohorts for covariate balance. As shown in , matching eliminated almost all significant differences in clinical characteristics, demographics, hospital characteristics, payment source, and comorbidity prevalence between the two cohorts.