Cardiovascular mortality in children and young adults with end-stage kidney disease.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze cardiovascular death in a national end-stage renal disease (ESRD) population.


METHODS
This retrospective, observational study with data from the US Renal Data Systems analyzed 1380 deaths from 1990 to 1996 among patients who started ESRD therapy as children and died before 30 years of age.


RESULTS
Percentage of cardiac deaths (n = 311) varied by age and was higher among black patients (0-4 years, 36%; 5-9 years, 18%; 10-14 years, 35%; 15-19 years, 22%; 20-30 years, 32%) than white patients (18%, 12%, 17%, 14%, and 23%, respectively). Among black patients, cardiac deaths occurred in 11% of transplant recipients, 34% of dialysis patients, and among white patients 9% and 25%, respectively. Black patients were 1.6 times more likely to die of a cardiac death (P <.001) than white patients. Transplant recipients had 78% lower risk of cardiac death than dialysis patients (odds ratio = 0.22; P =.0001). The cardiac death rate among dialysis patients was 21.4 per 1000 patient-years in black patients compared with 20.5 in white patients. Transplantation cardiac death rates were lower in black patients, 2.1 per 1000 patient-years, and 1.3 in white patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Cardiovascular death accounts for 23% of pediatric and young adult ESRD deaths. Black patients and dialysis patients are at higher risk of a cardiac death compared with white patients and transplant recipients. Further studies are needed to identify risk factors associated with cardiovascular death in patients with ESRD.
Department of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
R S
RS
Parekh
C E
CE
Carroll
R A
RA
Wolfe
F K
FK
Port
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D044383:Black People; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007229:Infant Welfare; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American