title: Pulmonary hypertension as an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality and events in hemodialysis patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hemodialysis patients are at an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) has been recently reported as a new entity and unrecognized threat in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, whether PH predicts CV mortality and events in this population remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to determine the value of PH in predicting CV mortality and events in a prospective cohort of MHD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 278 MHD patients (98 with and 180 without PH) in Guangdong General Hospital Blood Purification Center, Guangzhou, China. All patients had been followed up for 2 years, and in survival analysis, we considered time to death or first cardiovascular event. The endpoints were all-cause mortality, CV mortality and CV events. PH was defined as systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP) ≥ 35 mmHg as determined by Doppler echocardiographic evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 278 MHD patients, 53 (19.1 %) died as a result of all causes, 28 (10.1 %) died from CV events (52.8 % of causes of death), and 87 (31.3 %) had new-onset CV events. The survival curve showed that all-cause and CV mortality and new-onset CV events were higher in PH group than the non-PH group. In a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model, the adjusted HR for all-cause mortality, CV mortality and CV events was 1.85 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.03-3.34], 2.36 (95 % CI 1.05-5.31) and 2.27 (95 % CI 1.44-3.58), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that PH was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality and CV mortality and events in MHD patients. We suggest to evaluate SPAP in MHD patients in order to stratify risk of death and CV events.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, 106# Zhongshan Er lu, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhilian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shuangxin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xinling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Wenjian
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hongwen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fei
authors.forename: Penghua
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Yuanhan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lixia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ruizhao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000209:etiology; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000209:etiology; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000209:etiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology; D015996:Survival Rate