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Table 3 Comparisons of patients’ characteristics and nutrition parameters by sector and dietitian accessibility in Malaysian hemodialysis centers

From: The state of nutrition care in outpatient hemodialysis settings in Malaysia: a nationwide survey

Patient Characteristics and Nutrition Parameters

All (n = 4362)

Sector

p value

Dietitian Accessibility

p value

Government (n = 1072)

Private (n = 1949)

NGO (n = 1341)

Not available (n = 2618)

Dedicated dietitian (n = 934)

Shared/ visiting dietitian (n = 810)

Age (year)

55.0 ± 13.53

52.2 ± 14.7

56.8 ± 12.6

54.6 ± 13.5

<  0.001a

55.0 ± 13.00

54.6 ± 14.8

55.5 ± 13.70

0.395

Gender (Male)

2484 (59.6%)

589 (54.9%)

1103 (56.9%)

792 (59.1%)

0.117

1491 (57.0%)

531 (56.9%)

462 (57.0%)

0.997

Dialysis vintage (month)

43.0 (59)

53.5 (78)

34.0 (45)

50.0 (65)

<  0.001b

38.0 (51)

50.5 (78)

51.0 (62)

<  0.001b

Pre-dialysis creatinine (μmol/L)

840 ± 239

813 (796–831)

822 (813–840)

831 (813–849)

0.431

840 (831–849)

804 (787–822)

822 (804–840)

0.006c

BMI (kg/m2)

24.1 ± 4.7

23.5 (23.2–23.8)

24.6 (24.2–24.9)

23.8 (23.5–24.2)

<  0.001d

23.8 (23.5–24.0)

23.9 (23.5–24.3)

24.2 (23.8–24.6)

0.187

Albumin (g/L)

38.8 ± 4.3

39.1 (38.8–39.4)

38.6 (38.3–38.9)

39.4 (39.1–39.7)

<  0.001e

38.9 (38.6–39.1)

39.2 (38.8–39.6)

39.0 (38.6–39.3)

0.349

Phosphorus (mmol/L)

1.75 ± 0.45

1.62 (1.58–1.65)

1.84 (1.80–1.87)

1.78 (1.74–1.81)

<  0.001f

1.70 (1.67–1.72)

1.74 (1.70–1.78)

1.79 (1.76–1.83)

< 0.001g

  1. Univariate analysis adjusted for age, gender, dialysis vintage, Kt/V, number of patients in the center, center sector, and dietitian accessibility was used to compare nutrition parameters. Data of nutrition parameters is presented as adjusted mean (95% confidence interval)
  2. aOne-way ANOVA Test, Bonferroni post hoc test indicates significant difference government vs. private vs. NGO
  3. bKruskal Wallis Test
  4. cBonferroni post hoc test indicates p < 0.05 for pairwise comparison dedicated dietitian vs. no dietitian
  5. dBonferroni post hoc test indicates p < 0.05 for pairwise comparison private vs. government and private vs. NGO
  6. eBonferroni post hoc test indicates p < 0.05 for pairwise comparison private vs. NGO
  7. fBonferroni post hoc test indicates p < 0.05 for all pairwise comparisons
  8. gBonferroni post hoc test indicates p < 0.05 for pairwise comparison shared/visiting dietitian vs. no dietitian and shared/visiting dietitian vs. dedicated dietitian
  9. Abbreviations: BMI body mass index, NGO non-governmental organization