Incidence of Ischaemic Heart Disease in Men and Women With End-Stage Kidney Disease: A Cohort Study

Background The incidence of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) has fallen consistently in the general population; attributed to effective primary prevention strategies. Differences in incidence have been demonstrated by sex. Whether this fall in incidence and sex differences is mirrored in people with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is unclear. We aimed to establish the relative risk of IHD events in the ESKD population. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study from 2000 to 2010 in people with ESKD in New South Wales. We performed data linkage of the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry and state wide hospital admission and death registry data and compared this to general population data. The primary outcome was the incidence rate, incidence rate ratio (IRR), and time-trend for any IHD event. We calculated these using indirect standardisation by IHD event. Results 10,766 participants, contributed 44,149 years of observation time. Incidence rates were substantially higher than the general population for all IHD events (any IHD event: IRR 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7–1.9 for men, IRR 3.4, 95% CI 3.1–3.6 for women). Excess risk was higher in younger people (age 30–49 IRR 4.8, 95% CI 4.2–5.4), and in women with a three-fold increase risk overall and nearly a 10-fold increase in risk in young women (female age 30–49 years: IRR 9.8 95% CI 7.7–12.3), results were similar for angina and acute myocardial infarction. Ischaemic heart disease rates showed some decline for men over time, (ratio of IRR 0.93, 95% CI 0.90–0.95) but were stable for women (ratio of IRR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94–1.01). Conclusions People with ESKD have substantially higher rates of IHD than the general population, especially women, in whom no improvement appears evident over the past 10 years.