Background/Aims: Cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) is associated with left ventricular mass, left ventricular systolic dysfunction and mortality in patients with hypertension or chronic cardiovascular disease. The clinical significance of CTR in non-diabetic maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients remains unclear. Methods: 468 non-diabetic MHD patients were enrolled. Geographic, hematological, biochemical and dialysis-related data were obtained. The patients were analyzed for nutritional and inflammatory markers as well as CTR. All patients were followed up for 2 years to investigate the risks for mortality. Results: Chi-square analysis showed that the incidence of malnutrition and inflammation was significantly higher in patients with CTR >60% than in patients with CTR ≤60%. CTR positively correlated with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels but negatively correlated with albumin levels. 29 patients (6.2%) had expired by the end of the study. Cox multivariate analysis revealed that CTR significantly predicts both all-cause and cardiovascular-cause 2-year mortality in non-diabetic MHD patients. Conclusion: CTR is an indicator of inflammation and nutritional status in non-diabetic MHD patients and can predict 2-year mortality in these patients. The analytical results of this study support continued efforts to reduce CTR and treat underlying causes in patients with CTR >50%.

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On-line HDF offers a better cardiovascular stability and clinical improvement. Thrice weekly on-line HDF offers a significant benefit when compared with lower frequencies of HDF per week and high-flux HD.

IntroductionAn elevated level of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) is widely considered an indicator of an underlying inflammatory disease and a long-term prognostic predictor for dialysis patients. This cross-sectional cohort study was designed to assess the correlation between the level of high-sensitivity CRP (HS-CRP) and the outcome of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.MethodsA total of 402 patients were stratified into 3 tertiles (lower, middle, upper) according to serum HS-CRP level and and followed up from October 2009 to September 2011. During follow-up, cardiovascular events, infection episodes, technique failure, and mortality rate were recorded.ResultsDuring the 24-month follow-up, 119 of 402 patients (29.6%) dropped out from PD, including 28 patients (7.0%) who died, 81 patients (20.1%) who switched to hemodialysis, and 10 patients (2.5%) who underwent kidney transplantation. The results of Kaplan–Meier analysis and log-rank test demonstrated a significant difference in the cumulative patient survival rate across the 3 tertiles (the lowest rate in upper tertile). On multivariate Cox regression analysis, only higher HS-CRP level, older age, the presence of diabetes mellitus (DM), lower serum albumin level, and the occurrence of cardiovascular events during follow-up were identified as independent predictors of mortality. Every 1 mg/L increase in HS-CRP level was independently predictive of a 1.4% increase in mortality. Multivariate Cox regression analysis also showed that higher HS-CRP level, the presence of DM, lower hemoglobin level, lower serum albumin level, higher dialysate/plasma creatinine ratio, and the occurrence of infective episodes and cardiovascular events during follow-up were independent predictors of technique failure.ConclusionsThe present study shows the importance of HS-CRP in the prediction of 2-year mortality and technique survival in PD patients independent of age, diabetes, hypoalbuminemia, and the occurrence of cardiovascular events.