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The association between obesity and all-cause mortality in patients undergoing kidney failure with replacement therapy (KFRT) has shown conflicting results. This study aimed to evaluate whether metabolic abnormalities (MA) increase the risk of all-cause mortality in these patients. Between 2009 and 2015, 1141 patients undergoing KFRT were recruited from the Clinical Research Center for End-Stage Renal Disease dataset. Patients were divided into four groups according to the presence of obesity and MA. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis was performed to determine the association between the phenotypes and all-cause mortality. During a mean follow-up of 4.2 years, all-cause mortality was observed in 491 (43.0%) patients. Obesity had a 24% decreased risk of all-cause mortality compared with non-obesity. In contrast, the presence of MA showed a 1.53-fold increased risk of all-cause mortality. There was a significant interaction between obesity and MA (p = 0.006). In Cox proportional hazard analyses after adjustment of confounding factors, the metabolically abnormal non-obesity (MANO) phenotype showed a 1.63-fold increased risk of all-cause mortality compared with the metabolically healthy non-obesity phenotype. In subgroup analysis, the risk of all-cause mortality was higher in the MANO phenotype; this phenotype was significantly associated with a higher all-cause mortality in patients undergoing KFRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In East Asian countries, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have lower cardiovascular risk profiles and experience fewer cardiovascular events (CVEs) than those in Western countries. Thus the clinical predictive performance of well-known risk factors warrants further testing in this population. Methods The KoreaN cohort study for Outcome in patients With Chronic Kidney Disease (KNOW-CKD) is a multicenter, prospective observational study. We included 1579 participants with CKD G1–G5 without kidney replacement therapy between 2011 and 2016. The main predictor was the coronary artery calcium score (CACS). The primary outcome was a composite of nonfatal CVEs or all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included 3-point major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs; the composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke), all CVEs and all-cause mortality. Results During a median follow-up of 5.1 years, a total of 123 primary outcome events occurred (incidence rate 1.6/100 person-years). In the multivariable Cox model, a 1-standard deviation log increase in the CACS was associated with a 1.67-fold [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.37–2.04] higher risk of the primary outcome. Compared with a CACS of 0, the hazard ratio associated with a CACS >400 was 4.89 (95% CI 2.68–8.93) for the primary outcome. This association was consistent for secondary outcomes. Moreover, inclusion of the CACS led to modest improvements in prediction indices of the primary outcome compared with well-known conventional risk factors. Conclusions In Korean patients with CKD, the CACS was independently associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause death. The CACS also showed modest improvements in prediction performance over conventional cardiovascular risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Optimal blood pressure (BP) control is a major therapeutic strategy to reduce adverse cardiovascular events (CVEs) and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We studied the association of BP with adverse cardiovascular outcome and all-cause death in patients with CKD. Methods Among 2238 participants from the KoreaN cohort study for Outcome in patients With CKD (KNOW-CKD), 2226 patients with baseline BP measurements were enrolled. The main predictor was systolic BP (SBP) categorized by five levels: <110, 110–119, 120–129, 130–139 and ≥140 mmHg. The primary endpoint was a composite outcome of all-cause death or incident CVEs. We primarily used marginal structural models (MSMs) using averaged and the most recent time-updated SBPs. Results During the follow-up of 10 233.79 person-years (median 4.60 years), the primary composite outcome occurred in 240 (10.8%) participants, with a corresponding incidence rate of 23.5 [95% confidence interval (CI) 20.7–26.6]/1000 patient-years. MSMs with averaged SBP showed a U-shaped relationship with the primary outcome. Compared with time-updated SBP of 110–119 mmHg, hazard ratios (95% CI) for <110, 120–129, 130–139 and ≥140 mmHg were 2.47 (1.48–4.11), 1.29 (0.80–2.08), 2.15 (1.26–3.69) and 2.19 (1.19–4.01), respectively. MSMs with the most recent SBP also showed similar findings. Conclusions In Korean patients with CKD, there was a U-shaped association of SBP with the risk of adverse clinical outcomes. Our findings highlight the importance of BP control and suggest a potential hazard of SBP <110 mmHg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although cellular and animal models have suggested a protective effect of ketone bodies (KBs), clinical data are still lacking to support these findings. This study aimed to investigate the association of KB levels with incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) and death. This was a prospective cohort study of 87,899 UK Biobank participants without baseline CKD who had plasma levels of β-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, and acetone levels measured at the time of enrollment. The main predictor was plasma total KB, which was the sum of the aforementioned three KBs. The primary outcome was a composite of incident CKD, or all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included the individual components of the primary outcome. During a median follow-up of 11.9 years, a total of 8,145 primary outcome events occurred (incidence rate 8.0/1,000 person-years). In the multivariable Cox model, a 1-standard deviation increase in log total KB was associated with a 7 % [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 1.07; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 1.05–1.10] higher risk of the primary outcome. When stratified into quartiles, the aHR (95 % CI) for Q4 versus Q1 was 1.18 (1.11–1.27). This association was consistent for incident CKD (aHR, 1.04; 95 % CI, 1.01–1.07), and all-cause mortality (aHR, 1.10; 95 % CI, 1.07–1.13). Compared with Q1, Q4 was associated with a 12 % (aHR 1.12; 95 % CI 1.02–1.24) and 26 % (aHR 1.26; 95 % CI 1.15–1.37) higher risk of incident CKD and all-cause mortality, respectively. Higher KB levels were independently associated with higher risk of incident CKD and death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: The optimal low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level to prevent cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients remains unknown. This study aimed to explore the association of LDL-C levels with adverse cardiovascular and kidney outcomes in Korean CKD patients and determine the validity of "the lower, the better" strategy for statin intake.Methods and Results: A total of 1886 patients from the KoreaN cohort study for Outcome in patients With CKD (KNOW-CKD) were included. Patients were classified into four LDL-C categories: <70, 70-99, 100-129, and ≥130 mg/dL. The primary outcome was extended major adverse cardiovascular events (eMACEs). Secondary outcomes included all-cause mortality, and CKD progression. During the follow-up period, the primary outcome events occurred in 136 (7.2%) patients (16.9 per 1000 person-years). There was a graded association between LDL-C and the risk of eMACEs. The hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for LDL-C categories of 70-99, 100-129, and ≥130 mg/dL were 2.06 (1.14-3.73), 2.79 (1.18-6.58), and 4.10 (1.17-14.3), respectively, compared to LDL-C <70 mg/dL. Time-varying analysis showed consistent findings. The predictive performance of LDL-C for eMACEs was affected by kidney function. Higher LDL-C levels were also associated with significantly higher risks of CKD progression. However, LDL-C level was not associated with all-cause mortality.Conclusions: This study showed a graded relationship between LDL-C and the risk of adverse cardiovascular outcome in CKD patients. The lowest risk was observed with LDL-C <70 mg/dL, suggesting that a lower LDL-C target may be acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is a general consensus that elevated serum beta-2 microglobulin (B2M) levels measured at a single time-point are significantly associated with mortality in patients on maintenance dialysis. To date, the majority of prior studies that have examined B2M-associated mortality have been conducted in prevalent hemodialysis patients with little residual renal function (RRF). However, studies in incident peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients are lacking. Moreover, changes in serum B2M levels over time have not been considered in this population. Methods We examined the association of time-updated and baseline serum B2M levels with mortality in a 10-year cohort of 725 incident PD patients who were maintained on dialysis between January 2006 and December 2011 using Cox proportional hazards regression analyses. Patients were categorized into tertiles according to B2M levels. Results During a median follow-up of 38 (interquartile range 23–64) months, 258 (35.4%) deaths occurred, including 106 (14.6%) and 86 (11.9%) deaths from cardiovascular and infectious causes, respectively. The lowest B2M tertile was associated with a higher risk of all-cause and infectious mortality compared with the middle tertile: the hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) for all-cause deaths were 2.12 (1.38–3.26) and 2.20 (0.96–5.05) in time-varying analyses and 1.52 (1.07–2.17) and 2.41 (1.19–4.88) in baseline analyses. Subgroup analyses showed that this association was particularly observed in females, older patients, those with comorbidities such as diabetes, a lower body mass index, lower albumin levels or those with higher RRF (all P for interactions <0.05). Conclusions In incident PD patients, lower B2M levels were independently associated with overall and infectious mortality. These associations can be potentially modified by malnutrition, inflammation and RRF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The impact of serum ferritin on prognosis in patients starting hemodialysis (HD) is not fully elucidated. Methods: 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. Results: 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). Conclusion: 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. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mean platelet volume (MPV) is suggested as an index of inflammation, disease activity, and anti-inflammatory treatment efficacy in chronic inflammatory disorders; however, the effect of MPV on sepsis mortality remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated whether the change in MPV between hospital admission and 72 hours (ΔMPV72h-adm) predicts 28-day mortality in severe sepsis and/or septic shock. Methods: We prospectively enrolled 345 patients admitted to the emergency department (ED) who received standardized resuscitation (early goal-directed therapy) for severe sepsis and/or septic shock between November 2007 and December 2011. Changes in platelet indices, including ΔMPV72h-adm, were compared between survivors and non-survivors by linear mixed model analysis. The prognostic value of ΔMPV72h-adm for 28-day mortality was ascertained by Cox proportional hazards model analysis. Results: Thirty-five (10.1%) patients died within 28 days after ED admission. MPV increased significantly during the first 72 hours in non-survivors (P = 0.001) and survivors (P < 0.001); however, the rate of MPV increase was significantly higher in non-survivors (P = 0.003). Nonetheless, the difference in the platelet decline rate over the first 72 hours did not differ significantly between groups (P = 0.360). In multivariate analysis, ΔMPV72h-adm was an independent predictor of 28-day mortality, after adjusting for plausible confounders (hazard ratio, 1.44; 95% confidence interval, 1.01–2.06; P = 0.044). Conclusions: An increase in MPV during the first 72 hours of hospitalization is an independent risk factor for adverse clinical outcomes. Therefore, continuous monitoring of MPV may be useful to stratify mortality risk in patients with severe sepsis and/or septic shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. A potential independent association was recently demonstrated between high red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and the risk of all-cause mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease, although the mechanism remains unclear. However, there have been no reports on the relationship between RDW and mortality in acute kidney injury (AKI) patients treated with continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). In this study, we assessed whether RDW was associated with mortality in AKI patients on CRRT treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods. We enrolled 470 patients with AKI who were treated with CRRT at the Yonsei University Medical Center ICU from August 2007 to September 2009 in this study. We performed a retrospective analysis of demographic, biochemical parameters and patient outcomes. Following CRRT treatment, 28-day all-cause mortality was evaluated. Results. At the initiation of CRRT treatment, RDW level was significantly correlated with white blood cell count, hemoglobin (Hb) and total cholesterol. Patients with high RDW levels exhibited significantly higher 28-day mortality rates than patients with low RDW levels (P < 0.01). Baseline RDW level, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, low mean arterial pressure (MAP) and low cholesterol levels were independent risk factors for mortality. In multivariate Cox proportional hazard analyses, RDW at CRRT initiation was an independent predictor for 28-day all-cause mortality after adjusting for age, gender, MAP, Hb, albumin, total cholesterol, C-reactive protein and SOFA score. Conclusion. Our study demonstrates that RDW could be an additive predictor for all-cause mortality in AKI patients on CRRT treatment in the ICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Echocardiography is an established technique to estimate the risk for cardiovascular complications in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). An enlarged left atrium (LA) has recently emerged as a marker of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in various pathologic conditions. However, there have been few studies to evaluate its prognostic value in patients with ESRD, particularly those receiving continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).Methods. We conducted an observational cohort study to investigate whether enlarged LA can predict patient outcome in 216 patients with CAPD. Study outcomes were all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.Results. Increased left atrium volume index (LAVI > 32 mL/m2) was observed in 99 (45.8%) of the CAPD patients. During the follow-up (26.3 ± 18.6 months), 20 patients (9.3%) died. Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed that the 5-year survival rate was significantly lower in patients with LAVI > 32 mL/m2 than those with LAVI ≤ 32 mL/m2 (69 versus 82%, P = 0.024). In multivariate analyses adjusted for echocardiographic parameters and clinical and laboratory data, increased LAVI was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–1.10, P = 0.03] and cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.08, 95% CI 1.02–1.14, P = 0.006). Furthermore, increased LAVI provided the highest predictive value for all-cause mortality [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) = 0.766, P < 0.001] and cardiovascular mortality (AUC = 0.836, P < 0.001) among the measured echocardiographic parameters.Conclusions. We showed that increased LAVI predicted adverse outcomes better than other echocardiographic parameters in patients with CAPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The association of dyslipidemia with mortality has not been fully evaluated in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). Moreover, changes in lipids levels over time and associated death risk have not yet been studied in this population. Objective We studied the association of time-updated serum lipid concentrations with all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortalities in a 10-year cohort of 749 incident PD patients. Methods Association was assessed using time-varying Cox proportional hazard regression models with adjustment for multiple variables including statin therapy. Results During a median follow-up of 36 (interquartile range, 21–61) months, 273 all-cause and 107 CV deaths occurred. Compared with those with total cholesterol (TC) of 180 to <210 or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) of 100 to <130 mg/dL, hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) of the lowest TC (<150 mg/dL) and LDL-C (<70 mg/dL) were 2.32 (1.61–3.35) and 2.02 (1.45–2.83) for all-cause mortality and 1.87 (1.04–3.37) and 1.92 (1.13–3.26) for CV mortality, respectively. Lower triglyceride (<100 mg/dL) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (<30 mg/dL) levels were associated with higher all-cause mortality (1.66 [1.11–2.47] and 1.57 [1.08–2.29]) but not with CV mortality. Conclusions Contrary to the general population, lower TC and LDL-C levels over time were significantly associated with both worse survival and increased CV mortality in incident PD patients. Although lower triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations were associated with significantly higher all-cause mortality, they failed to show any clear association with CV mortality. The underlying mechanisms responsible for this apparent paradox await further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Dialysis patients are at high risk for cardiovascular diseases, but until now there have been no detailed analyses of the incidences among Asian patients initiating dialysis. The aims of this study were to determine the incidence rates of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) and to compare them between incident HD patients and PD patients. Methods We included all patients who had started dialysis between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2008 in Korea, and analyzed 30,279 eligible patients [22,892 hemodialysis (HD) patients and 7387 peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients] by intention-to-treat. Median follow-up was 21.5 months. Results The crude incidence rates were as follows: MACCE, 182 per 1000 patient-years (PY); major adverse cardiac events (MACE), 138/1000 PY; all-cause mortality, 116/1000 PY; non-fatal acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 18/1000 PY; target vessel revascularization (TVR), 17/1000 PY; and non-fatal stroke, 60/1000 PY. When comparing all baseline covariate-adjusted relative risks between HD and PD patients, HD is overall superior to PD in terms of MACCE. Further examined by each endpoint, all-cause mortality, non-fatal AMI, and TVR occurred significantly more frequently in patients on PD than in those on HD, whereas non-fatal hemorrhagic stroke occurred significantly more frequently in patients on HD than in those on PD. Conclusions The incidence of MACCE may be different from Western dialysis patients. HD is overall superior to PD in terms of MACCE as an initial dialysis modality. Underlying mechanisms differentially affecting cardiovascular outcomes by dialysis modality remain to be further elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, only a few large-scale studies have measured the effect of dialysis modality on mortality in Asian populations. Here, we sought to compare survival between incident hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients using the Korean Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service database. This enabled us to perform a population-based complete survey that included 32,280 incident dialysis patients and followed them for a median of 26.5 months. To reduce biases due to nonrandomization, we first matched 7049 patient pairs with similar propensity scores. Using the log-rank test, we found the mortality rate in PD patients was significantly higher than that in HD patients. Subsequent subgroup analyses indicated that in older patients (55 years and older), with the exception of the subgroup of patients with no comorbidities and the subgroup of patients with malignancy, PD was consistently associated with a higher mortality rate. In younger patients (under 55 years), regardless of the covariates, the survival rate of PD patients was comparable to that of HD patients. Thus, while the overall mortality rate was higher in incident PD patients, mortality rates of some incident PD and HD patients were comparable in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]