RESEARCH ARTICLE Glycemic Control and Mortality in Diabetic Patients Undergoing Dialysis Focusing on the Effects of Age and Dialysis Type: A Prospective Cohort Study in Korea

Background Active glycemic control has been proven to delay the onset and slow the progression of dia-betic retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy in diabetic patients, but the optimal level is obscure in end-stage renal disease. In this study, we evaluated the effect of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) on mortality of diabetic patients on dialysis, focusing on age and dialysis type. Methods Of 3,302 patients enrolled in the prospective cohort for end-stage renal disease in Korea between August 2008 and October 2013, 1,239 diabetic patients who had been diagnosed with diabetes or having HbA1c6.5 % at the time of enrollment were analyzed. Age was cat-egorized as <55, 55–64 and65 years old. Age, sex, modified Charlson comorbidity index, hemoglobin, primary renal disease, body mass index, and dialysis duration were adjusted. Results A total of 873 patients received hemodialysis (HD) and 366 underwent peritoneal dialysis (PD). During the mean follow-up of 19.1 months, 141 patients died. Patients with poor glu