Association of left ventricular systolic dysfunction with mortality in incident peritoneal dialysis patients.

ABSTRACT

AIM: Cardiovascular disease is associated with morbidity and mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients but the relationship between left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and outcomes is unclear. This study aimed to explore the association between LVEF and mortality in incident continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. METHODS: The patients were divided into three groups according to LVEF levels (>0.6, 0.5 to 0.6, and <0.5). Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate association of LVEF with mortality. RESULTS: Among the 594 patients, LVEF levels of >0.6, 0.5 to 0.6, and <0.5 were detected in 428 (72.0%), 127 (21.4%) and 39 (6.6%) patients, respectively. During a median follow-up of 39.6 months, 127 (21.4%) patients died, of the deaths, 57.5% were attributable to cardiovascular causes. Patients with LVEF <0.5 had worst overall rates of survival and cardiovascular death-free survival among groups. Compared with LVEF >0.6, adjusted all-cause mortality hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for patients with LVEF 0.5 to 0.6 and <0.5 were 1.62 (1.09-2.43) and 1.93 (1.06-3.52), respectively. The corresponding adjusted cardiovascular mortality HR were 1.60 (0.94-2.47) and 2.16 (1.04-4.74), respectively. CONCLUSION: Reduced LVEF is significantly associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in incident CAPD patients.