title: Aortic arch calcification and risk of cardiovascular or all-cause and mortality in dialysis patients: A meta-analysis.
abstract: Studies on aortic arch calcification (AAC) and mortality risk in maintenance dialysis patients have yielded conflicting findings. We conducted this meta-analysis to investigate the association between the presence of AAC and cardiovascular or all-cause and mortality risk in maintenance dialysis patients. Observational studies evaluating baseline AAC and cardiovascular or all-cause mortality risk in maintenance dialysis patients were searched through the PubMed and Embase, CNKI, VIP and Wanfang databases until January 2016. A total of 8 studies with 3,256 dialysis patients were identified. Compared with patients without AAC, the presence of AAC was associated with greater risk of cardiovascular mortality (hazard risk [HR] 2.30; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.78-2.97) and all-cause mortality (HR 1.44; 95% CI 1.19-1.75). Subgroup analyses indicated that the pooled HR for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality was 2.31 (95% CI 1.57-3.40) and 1.45 (95% CI 1.08-1.96) for the grade 2/3 AAC. Peritoneal dialysis patients with AAC had greater cardiovascular (HR 3.93 vs. HR 2.10) and all-cause mortality (HR 2.36 vs. HR 1.33) than hemodialysis patients. The AAC appears to be independently associated with excessive cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in maintenance dialysis patients. Regular follow-up AAC might be helpful to stratify mortality risk in dialysis patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care Unit, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
authors.forename: Ao
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care Unit, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
authors.forename: Shiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care Unit, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
authors.forename: Hongxiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care Unit, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064887:Observational Studies as Topic; D010530:Peritoneal Dialysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D051437:Renal Insufficiency / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D012307:Risk Factors; D061205:Vascular Calcification / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*