Effect of end-stage renal failure and hemodialysis on mortality rates in implantable cardioverter-defibrillator recipients.

BACKGROUND

Most defibrillator (ICD) trials have excluded patients on hemodialysis (HD). It is therefore not known whether the ICD, when indicated, confers the same mortality benefit to HD and non-HD patients.

METHOD

HD patients implanted with an ICD from July 2001 to June 2004 were matched by age, gender, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and class of heart failure to non-HD ICD recipients.

RESULTS

Forty-six (16 on HD) patients (age = 65 +/- 15 yrs, LVEF = 30 +/- 14%, 44% in class III-IV HF) were followed for a mean of 30 +/- 16 months (range, 4-61 months) after ICD implantation. During this period, 12/16 HD versus 9/30 non-HD patients died (P = 0.006). The two-year mortality rates were 54% and 29% in the HD and non-HD groups, respectively (P = 0.01). After correcting for age, gender, race, LVEF, class of HF, and ICD indication (primary vs. secondary prevention) in a Cox regression model, HD remained a significant predictor of the time to death (HR = 2.9, adjusted P = 0.023).

CONCLUSION

Despite having an ICD, HD patients have approximately a three-fold increase in total mortality and may therefore not extract the same survival benefits from the ICD as their non-HD counterparts. If duplicated in larger randomized trials, these results may demonstrate the futility of implanting defibrillators in HD patients.