About the Authors

Julia Kerschbaum

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine IV, Nephrology and Hypertension, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Andreas Vychytil

Affiliation Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine III, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Karl Lhotta

Affiliation Department of Nephrology and Dialysis, Academic Teaching Hospital Feldkirch, Feldkirch, Austria

Friedrich C. Prischl

Affiliation Clinical Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine IV, Klinikum Wels-Grieskirchen, Wels, Austria

Martin Wiesholzer

Affiliation Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, First Department of Medicine, A.ö. Krankenhaus St. Pölten, St. Pölten, Austria

Veronika Machhold-Fabrizii

Affiliation Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, Department of Medicine VI, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria

Gertrude Kopriva-Altfahrt

Affiliation Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, Department of Medicine VI, Wilhelminenspital, Vienna, Austria

Christoph Schwarz

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, Krankenhaus der Elisabethinen, Linz, Austria

Peter Balcke

Affiliation Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, First Department of Medicine, A.ö. Krankenhaus St. Pölten, St. Pölten, Austria

Rainer Oberbauer

Affiliations Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine III, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Department of Nephrology, Krankenhaus der Elisabethinen, Linz, Austria, Austrian Dialysis and Transplant Registry, Linz, Austria

Reinhard Kramar

Affiliation Austrian Dialysis and Transplant Registry, Linz, Austria

Paul König

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine IV, Nephrology and Hypertension, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Michael Rudnicki

michael.rudnicki@i-med.ac.at

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine IV, Nephrology and Hypertension, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Competing Interests

Fresenius Medical Care and Baxter Healthcare provided funding for this study. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JK MR. Performed the experiments: JK MR. Analyzed the data: JK RK MR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JK AV KL FCP MW VMF GKA CS PB RO PK MR. Wrote the paper: JK AV KL FCP CS RO RK PK MR.