Major Bleeding Rates in an International Cohort of Patients With End-Stage Kidney Disease

An estimated 2.5 million patients worldwide were being treated for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) as of 2016.1 The vast majority of patients with ESKD are treated with hemodialysis (HD ∼89%) and peritoneal dialysis (PD), however patterns of HD and PD vary internationally.2 Patients with ESKD on dialysis have been observed to be at increased risk of major bleeding likely due to multiple factors,3 but the epidemiology of bleeding in different ESKD subgroups is not well described. We aimed to determine rates of overall and cause-specific major bleeding events in patients with ESKD overall and by key characteristics including HD vs PD, region, demographics, and comorbidities.