Ahn JH, et al. - Researchers used the United States Renal Data System, to evaluate the risk of mortality in hospitalized end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with a diagnosis of herpes zoster (zoster) from the inpatient hospital files (as opposed to outpatient records), from 2006 to 2009. They determined 2-year mortality following an inpatient diagnosis, using an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis code of zoster infection. They also performed Cox proportional hazards models controlling for demographic and other clinical risk factors. They observed increased mortality with older age and higher severity of clinical comorbidities among ESRD patients with an inpatient zoster diagnosis.