Supplementary Material for: Serum Ferritin Predicts Mortality Regardless of Inflammatory and Nutritional Status in Patients Starting Dialysis: A Prospective Cohort Study

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The impact of serum ferritin on prognosis in patients starting hemodialysis (HD) is not fully elucidated. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A prospective cohort of 946 incident HD patients from 26 dialysis centers in Korea was selected for this study. Patients were divided into tertiles according to natural logarithm (Ln) ferritin concentrations. <b><i>Results:</i></b> During a median follow-up of 39 months, 88 (9.3%) patients died. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis demonstrated that Ln ferritin was independently associated with an increase in cardiovascular mortality risk (hazard ratio (HR) 1.604, 95% CI 1.040-2.474, p = 0.033), infection-related mortality risk (HR 1.916, 95% CI 1.056-3.476, p = 0.032), and all-cause mortality risk (HR 1.547, 95% CI 1.156-2.069, p = 0.003). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Serum ferritin levels at the time of HD commencement were a significant independent risk factor for mortality regardless of systemic inflammation and nutritional status. Therefore, elevated serum ferritin levels could be an effective indicator for prognosis.