Introduction This study performed survival analysis on patients that had commenced “Haemodialysis (HD) and Peritoneal Dialysis (DP) renal replacement therapy (RRT)” on the National Public System in Brazil.

Method The following criteria were used to select patient records: patients admitted between 2002 and 2003 with at least three consecutive months of treatment and >18 years of age. Independent variables tested were gender, age, region of residence, basic cause of kidney failure, Human Development Index (IDH) of the year 2000. A proportional hazards model to investigate the factors associated with death was used.

Results There were 31 298 patients. The majority were on HD, average age of 54 years, and residing in the Southeast region. The average IDH for the residence cities of the patients was 0.78. The main IRCT diagnosis was hypertension. The final model showed that the following variables were associated with a greater probability of death after 3 years of follow-up: female gender; age over 55 years; primary diagnosis of mellitus diabetes; initiated on DP; not residing in the southeast region. Residing in cities with greater IDH was related to a reduced risk of death. The adjusted estimated risk, for the 3-year treatment, was HR=1.17, in favour of HD. The evaluation of risk between the modalities has shown that age is an important factor for a greater risk on DP, independently of gender and IRCT cause.

Conclusion The findings were corroborated by literature data that indicate that older patients have a worse prognosis when undergoing DP.