Higher Cholesterol Level Predicts Cardiovascular Event and Inversely Associates With Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients: 10-Year Outcomes of the Q-Cohort Study.

The prevalence of atherosclerotic diseases is higher in hemodialysis patients. The aim of the current study was to investigate associations between cholesterol level and the incidences of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality in hemodialysis patients. A total of 3517 participants undergoing maintenance hemodialysis were followed up for 10 years. Total cholesterol (TC) level was divided into quartile in baseline data. The multivariate analyses were calculated by a Cox proportional hazards model. The incidences of ischemic heart disease (IHD), peripheral artery disease (PAD), and CVD were significantly positively associated with higher cholesterol levels after adjustment for confounding factors (P < 0.01, P = 0.04, and P < 0.01, respectively). Furthermore, the incidences of cancer-associated mortality and all-cause mortality were significantly positively associated with lower cholesterol levels after adjustment for confounding factors (both P < 0.01). The lowest TC level at all-cause mortality risk was 179 mg/dL. From these results, higher TC predicts IHD, PAD, and CVD events, and lower TC predicts cancer-associated mortality and all-cause mortality in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis.