Villar Emmanuel, Frimat Luc, Ecochard René, Labeeuw Michel
Service de néphrologie, dialyse et transplantation rénale, hospices civils de Lyon, centre hospitalier Lyon-Sud, 165, chemin du grand revoyet, 69495 Pierre-Bénite, France.
Nephrol Ther. 2008 Dec;4(7):553-61. doi: 10.1016/j.nephro.2008.02.008. Epub 2008 May 1.
Epidemiological and observational studies are needed in nephrology for evidence-based medical decision and global knowledge of renal patients. Using strong methodology, such studies are useful to formulate hypotheses for further explanatory studies or clinical trials. Survival analysis of dialysis patients are based on the usual and robust Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression methods. Nevertheless, their use should take into account the specificities of the dialysis population, especially when non-constant risks for death with time and sub-groups analyses are considered. In addition, survival curves from birth or standardised mortality ratio are able to provide a new view of survival by changing of analytical perspective. Our aim is to summarize the specificities of survival study methodology in dialysis patients using concrete examples in French cohorts.
