Laboratory and clinical characteristics of participants with improved and unimproved pruritus intensity, at baseline and at follow-up.

<p>NOTE. Data are expressed as mean ± S.D for normally distributed continuous variables; as median (interquartile range) for non-normally distributed continuous variables; and as number (percentage) for categorical variables.</p><p>Abbreviations: VAS, visual analog scale.</p>*<p><i>P</i><0.05 for the statistical testing between participants with improved pruritus and those with unimproved pruritus.</p>**<p>Ca×P = Product of albumin-adjusted serum calcium (Ca) and serum phosphorus (P).</p

Linear regression analysis of predictors associated with the change score of pruritus intensity.

<p>NOTE. Each participant’s change score of pruritus intensity = follow-up VAS score of pruritus intensity – baseline VAS score of pruritus intensity. Similarly, each participant’s change score of a covariate = follow-up data of a covariate – baseline data of a covariate.</p><p>Abbreviations: AST, aspartate transaminase; VAS, visual analog scale.</p>*<p>Ca×P = Product of albumin-adjusted serum calcium (Ca) and serum phosphorus (P).</p>1<p>Model considered only the covariates measured at baseline (gender, Kt/V, use of high-flux dialyzer, pruritus intensity, hematocrit, creatinine, uric acid, fasting glucose, total bilirubin, Ca×P). <i>R</i>² = 0.736.</p>2<p>Model considered both the covariates measured at baseline (Kt/V, pruritus intensity, AST, Ca×P) and the change scores of the covariates (uric acid, fasting glucose, AST). <i>R</i>² = 0.752.</p

Demographic and clinical characteristics of participants at baseline.

<p>NOTE. Data are expressed as mean ± S.D. or number (percentage).</p

Linear regression analysis of the predictors associated with the change score of pruritus intensity with dichotomized baseline Kt/V at its appropriate threshold value of 1.5.

<p>NOTE. Each participant’s change score of pruritus intensity = follow-up VAS score of pruritus intensity – baseline VAS score of pruritus intensity. Similarly, each participant’s change score of a covariate = follow-up data of a covariate – baseline data of a covariate. The appropriate threshold of Kt/V, determined by generalized additive models and receiver operating characteristic analysis, was 1.5. Accordingly, the participants were classified into two categories: those with Kt/V <1.5 and those with Kt/V ≥1.5.</p><p>Abbreviations: AST = Aspartate transaminase; VAS = Visual analog scale.</p>*<p>Ca×P = Product of albumin-adjusted serum calcium (Ca) and serum phosphorus (P).</p>1<p>Model adjusted for covariates of baseline data only (gender, Kt/V, use of high-flux dialyzer, pruritus intensity, creatinine, uric acid, fasting glucose, phosphorus), <i>R</i>² = 0.725.</p>2<p>Model adjusted for the important covariates at baseline (Kt/V, pruritus intensity, AST, and Ca×P) and the change scores of the covariates (uric acid, fasting glucose, and AST), <i>R</i>² = 0.754.</p

Identifying the appropriate threshold of baseline Kt/V by the generalized additive models (GAM) plot.

<p>(A) The GAM plot adjusted for the important covariates at baseline only (gender, Kt/V, use of high-flux dialyzer, pruritus intensity, hematocrit, creatinine, uric acid, fasting glucose, total bilirubin, and Ca×P).(B) The GAM plot adjusted for the important covariates at baseline (Kt/V, pruritus intensity, AST, and Ca×P) and the change scores of the covariates (uric acid, fasting glucose, and AST). The solid red lines show nonlinearity of multivariable-adjusted relation between baseline Kt/V and change score of pruritus (with 95% confidence intervals shown in black dotted lines). Pruritus intensity was assessed by visual analog scale scores. The little vertical bars (i.e., rugs) on the horizontal axis of the GAM plots display the distribution of individual observations. Both GAM plots identified the value around 1.5 to be the appropriate threshold of baseline Kt/V for uremic pruritus, which indicated start of the aggravation of pruritus intensity began at Kt/V <1.5.</p

Laboratory and clinical characteristics of participants at baseline and follow-up.

<p>NOTE. Data are expressed as mean ± S.D for normally distributed continuous variables; as median (interquartile range) for non-normally distributed continuous variables; and as number (percentage) for categorical variables.</p><p>Abbreviations: VAS, visual analog scale.</p>*<p><i>P</i><0.05 for the statistical testing between baseline and follow-up.</p>**<p>Ca×P = Product of albumin-adjusted serum calcium (Ca) and serum phosphorus (P).</p

Histogram and density plot of visual analogue scale (VAS) scores.

<p>(A) Frequency distribution of pruritus VAS scores at baseline in the study participants. (B) Frequency distribution of pruritus VAS scores at follow-up in the study participants. The density of vertical axis represents the percentage of study participants.</p