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During the congress, E-Posters will be accessible to all participants on the congress website 24/7, as well as in the E-poster stations in the congress center.
Preparing your E-Poster
Please review the E-Poster format requirements carefully when preparing your E-Poster. Should your E-Poster not meet the mentioned requirements, it may not be displayed as described above.
E-Poster Submission Deadline
Please prepare and upload your E-Poster no later than March 14, 2026 11.59PM CET. After this date, you will no longer be able to prepare and upload your E-poster and it will not be displayed and accessible on the congress website.
Please follow the instructions below to input your abstract title.
Abstract titles should be brief and reflect the content of the abstract.
Choice of vascular access is a modifiable determinant of survival in hemodialysis. Catheters carry higher bloodstream‑infection rates and are linked to excess morbidity and mortality; guidelines recommend limiting catheter days. Brazilian data on mortality by access type are scarce.
We conducted a retrospective cohort study across 103 DaVita Brazil clinics (January 2024–August 2025). Dashboards provided monthly averages of patients and deaths for all conventional outpatient haemodialysis patients and for subgroups defined by vascular access: short‑term central venous catheters (CVC‑ST), tunneled catheters (CVC‑LT) and arteriovenous fistulas/grafts (AVF/PTFE). We computed patient‑years (PY) from the mean monthly census and estimated death rates per 100 PY and annualized risk using the relation pyear=1−exp[−12⋅ln(1−pmonth)]. Rate ratios (RR) and rate differences (RD) versus AVF/PTFE were obtained from Poisson models with offset(log PY). Two‑sided Wald tests assessed statistical significance.
The cohort comprised 17 793 patients/month, with 222 deaths/month and mean mortality 1,2 %. CVC‑ST (1 439 patients/month, 39 deaths/month) had mortality 2,7 %; CVC‑LT (6 203 patients/month, 110 deaths/month) 1,8 %; AVF/PTFE (12 598 patients/month, 97 deaths/month) 0,8 %. Over 20 months this translated to 2 398 PY (CVC‑ST), 10 338 PY (CVC‑LT), 20 997 PY (AVF/PTFE) and 29 655 PY (all). Death rates were 32,5/100 PY for CVC‑ST, 21,3/100 PY for CVC‑LT and 9,24/100 PY for AVF/PTFE; the annualized mortality risks were 28 %, 19 % and 8,9 %, respectively. Compared with AVF/PTFE, CVC‑ST showed RR 3,52 (95 %CI 3,24–3,82; p<0,001) with RD +23,3/100 PY; CVC‑LT RR 2,30 (95 %CI 2,17–2,45; p<0,001) with RD +12,0/100 PY. The mixed cohort had RR 1,62 (95 %CI 1,54–1,71; p<0,001). Absolute risk differences versus AVF/PTFE were +19,2 p.p./ano for CVC‑ST and +10,4 p.p./ano for CVC‑LT; numbers‑needed‑to‑harm were 5,3 and 9,6 per year, respectively.
In this large, real‑world Brazilian cohort, short‑term catheters were associated with ~3·5‑fold and tunneled catheters with ~2·3‑fold higher mortality relative to arteriovenous access. These differences remained statistically significant even with aggregated data. Programs that reduce catheter exposure — such as early planning of arteriovenous access, fast‑track creation and cannulation protocols, and strict surveillance of catheter‑related bloodstream infections — could translate into substantial reductions in mortality. Our findings support national initiatives promoting fistulas and grafts and emphasise the need for continuous monitoring of infection and mortality by access type.
