Surgeon Factors Have a Larger Effect on Vascular Access Type and Outcomes than Patient Factors

Though patient factors are frequently linked to hemodialysis vascular access selection and outcomes, variability by surgeon and surgeon specialty may play a role as well. The objective of this study is to examine the extent to which individual surgeons influence selection of vascular access type, removal of tunneled hemodialysis catheter (THC), and repeat vascular access. A national claims database was used to identify patients initiating hemodialysis via a THC between 2011 and 2017. Likelihood of repeat AVF/AVG was analyzed using mixed-effects logistic regression. Time from initial arteriovenous fistula (AVF)/graft (AVG) to THC removal and time to repeat AVF/AVG were analyzed using Weibull proportional hazard models. Individual surgeon identifier served as the random effect in all models. 6,908 AVF/AVG met the inclusion criteria: 5366 (78%) AVF and 1,542 (22%) AVG. Surgeon specialty only had a significant influence on access type, with vascular surgeons having 26% greater odds of performing AVG compared to general surgeons (P = 0.006). Relative to the other independent variables, individual surgeon identifier had the greatest magnitude of effect on access type (median odds ratio, 2.36; 95% CI, 2.09-2.72). Individual surgeon identifier had the second greatest magnitude of effect likelihood of THC removal (median hazard ratio, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.58-1.77) and second access (median hazard ratio, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.66-2.05), in both cases second only to the effect of AVG, which was associated with greater likelihood of THC removal (hazard ratio 1.91; 95% CI, 1.77-2.07) and lower likelihood of second access (hazard ratio 0.44; 95% CI, 0.38-0.52). Individual surgeons are associated with greater variation in vascular access type and likelihood of repeat access than surgeon specialty and measurable patient demographics/co-morbidities. Future research should focus on identifying which surgeon factors are associated with improved outcomes.