Clinical features of frailty syndrome and its association with all-cause mortality in elderly patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis / 中华肾脏病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of frailty syndrome in elderly patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) and the effect of frailty syndrome on all-cause mortality.Methods:This was a prospective cohort study. MHD patients aged≥60 years in 5 hemodialysis centers in Beijing from April to June 2017 were selected as the study subjects. Baseline data were collected and compared, and the patients were then classified into non-frailty, pre-frailty and frailty syndrome groups according to the Fried criteria and followed up until June 2018. The end point event was all-cause death. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the independent risk factors of frailty syndrome. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to compare the difference in the cumulative survival rate among the 3 groups. A multivariate Cox regression model was used to analyze the independent risk factors of all-cause mortality.Results:A total of 204 patients aged (71.65±5.89) years (60-81 years) were enrolled into this study, including 123 males (60.29%), 147 patients (72.06%) in the frailty syndrome group, 41 patients (20.10%) in the pre-frailty group, and 16 patients (7.84%) in the non-frailty group. Patients with frailty syndrome tended to be older, longer dialysis vintage, a higher proportion of diabetes, lower urea clearance index (Kt/V) and lower serum albumin level (all P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression showed that factors independently associated with frailty syndrome included age ( OR=1.393, 95% CI 1.241-1.563, P<0.001), history of diabetes ( OR=3.610, 95% CI 1.262-10.327, P=0.017), dialysis vintage ( OR=1.011, 95% CI 1.002-1.020, P=0.019), Kt/V ( OR=0.711, 95% CI 0.516-0.979, P=0.037), serum albumin ( OR=0.754, 95% CI 0.644-0.882, P<0.001) and intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH, OR=1.344, 95% CI 1.024-1.763, P=0.033). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the cumulative survival rate in frailty syndrome group was significantly lower than those of pre-frailty (Log-rank χ2=7.265, P=0.007) and non-frailty groups (Log-rank χ2=5.238, P=0.022). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that frailty syndrome ( HR=3.832, 95% CI 1.116-13.157, P=0.033), age ( HR=1.074, 95% CI 1.014-1.136, P=0.014), history of diabetes ( HR=2.009, 95% CI 1.067-3.784, P=0.031), cognitive impairment (Montreal cognitive assessment<26, HR=2.627, 95% CI 1.142-6.042, P=0.023), Kt/V ( HR=0.701, 95% CI 0.545-0.902, P=0.006), serum albumin ( HR=0.891, 95% CI 0.806-0.986, P=0.025) and iPTH ( HR=1.226, 95% CI 1.100-1.367, P<0.001) were independently associated with all-cause mortality. Conclusions:The prevalence of frailty syndrome in elderly patients undergoing hemodialysis is high. Ageing, diabetes history, long dialysis vintage, low levels of Kt/V and serum albumin, and elevated iPTH level are independent risk factors for frailty syndrome in such patients. Frailty syndrome is independently associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality.