Risk factors and outcome of spinal epidural abscess from incident hemodialysis patients from the United States Renal Data System between 2005 and 2008

Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a serious complication in hemodialysis (HD) patients, yet there is little medical literature that discusses it. This analysis identifies risk factors and co-morbidities associated with SEA, as well as risk factors for mortality following the diagnosis using SAS. All incident HD cases from the United States Renal Data System for calendar years 2005 to 2008 were queried for a diagnosis of SEA. Potential clinical covariates, survival and risk factors were recovered using ICD-9 diagnosis codes. Log-binomial regressions were performed using PROC GENMOD to assess the relative risks, and Cox regression models were run using PROC PHREG to estimate hazard ratios for mortality.