Table 1 Characteristics of study participants
Characteristic MHD patients N = 72 Normal controls N = 39  p Value
Age (years) 52.3 ± 12.9 51.0 ± 12.7 0.570
Gender (M/F) 49/23 23/16 0.391
Male (%) 68 59
DM/non-DM 23/49
Dialysis vintage (months) 53.9 ± 45.0
47.8 (51.4)
Race (%) 0.423
 African American 29 (40 %) 8 (21 %)
 Asian 22 (31 %) 19 (49 %)
 Caucasian 5 (6.9 %) 4 (10 %)
 Hispanic 15 (21 %) 8 (21 %)
 Pacific Islander 1 (1.4 %) 0
Education levels (%) 0.056
 Below high school graduate 14 (19 %) 2 (5.1 %)
 High school graduate 25 (35 %) 14 (36 %)
 ≤2 years of college
 ≥2 years of college 33 (46 %) 23 (59 %)
Charlson comorbidity index 5.7 ± 2.7 –
Weight (kg) 78.9 ± 21.5 74.8 ± 14.5 0.237
76.4 (25.6) 77.0 (18.9)
Body mass index (kg/m2) 27.8 ± 5.8 27.0 ± 3.9 0.388
26.2 (7.6) 27.0 (5.9)
Lean body mass (kg) 54.0 ± 15.4 51.4 ± 11.3 0.315
51.5 (17.7) 49.1 (15.9)
Lean body mass index (kg/m2) 18.9 ± 3.4 18.4 ± 2.7 0.472
18.3 (3.0) 18.2 (3.2)
Body fat (%) 28.3 ± 8.5 27.9 ± 8.1 0.786
26.8 (11) 25.8 (14)
Serum albumin (g/dL) 4.1 ± 0.3 4.1 ± 0.2 0.606
Serum creatinine (mg/dL) 10.5 ± 4.3 0.84 ± 0.2 <0.0001
9.8 (3.8)
nPNA (g protein/kg/day) 1.10 ± 0.26
Sp Kt/Vurea 1.72 ± 0.40
Serum TIBC (ug/mL) 240.6 ± 40.1
Serum ferritin (ng/mL) 453.2 ± 313.2
Hemoglobin (g/dL) 11.2 ± 0.8 13.8 ± 1.3 <0.0001
11.2 (0.9) 14 (2.1)
Serum calcium (mg/dL) 9.0 ± 0.7
Serum phosphorus (mg/dL) 5.3 ± 1.4
Serum PTH (pg/mL) 480 ± 277
456 (305)
Serum bicarbonate (mEq/L) 24.5 ± 2.6
Data expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Non-normally distributed data are expressed as median values with the interquartile range (IQR, i.e., the arithmetic difference between the 25th percentile value and the 75th percentile value) shown in parentheses
nPNA normalized protein nitrogen appearance, also referred to as protein catabolic rate; TIBC total iron binding capacity; PTH parathyroid hormone