Survival on Dialysis Among American Indians and Alaska Natives With Diabetes in the United States, 1995-2010

Objectives. We assessed survival in American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) with end-stage renal disease attributed to diabetes who initiated hemodialysis between 1995 and 2009. Methods. Follow-up extended from the first date of dialysis in the United States Renal Data System until December 31, 2010, kidney transplantation, or death. We used the Kaplan-Meier method to compute survival on dialysis by age and race/ethnicity and Cox regression analysis to compute adjusted hazard ratios (HRs). Results. Our study included 510 666 persons-48% Whites, 2% AI/AN persons, and 50% others. Median follow-up was 2.2 years (interquartile range = 1.1-4.1 years). At any age, AI/AN persons survived longer on hemodialysis than Whites; this finding persisted after adjusting for baseline differences. Among AI/AN individuals, those with full Indian blood ancestry had the lowest adjusted risk of death compared with Whites (HR = 0.58; 95% confidence interval = 0.55, 0.61). The risk increased with declining proportion of AI/AN ancestry. Conclusions. Survival on dialysis was better among AI/AN than White persons with diabetes. Among AI/AN persons, the inverse relationship between risk of death and level of AI/AN ancestry suggested that cultural or hereditary factors played a role in survival.