Impact of kidney size on the outcome of diabetic patients receiving hemodialysis

Diabetic patients normally have enlarged or normal-sized kidneys throughout their lifetime, but some diabetic uremic patients have small kidneys. It is uncertain if kidney size could have any negative impact on outcome in hemodialysis patients. This longitudinal, observational cohort study recruited 301 diabetic hemodialysis patients in 2015, and followed until 2019. Patients were stratified into two subgroups according to their kidney sizes before dialysis, as small (n = 32) or enlarged or normal (n = 269). Baseline demographic, hematological, biochemical, nutritional, inflammatory and dialysis related data were collected for analysis. Patients with small kidney size were not only older (P