KEY POINTS

We observed a comparable cumulative incidence of major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) in in-center hemodialysis (IC-HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients, which was higher than in automated PD and home hemodialysis patients. After adjustment for confounders, there was no difference in risk of MACE between patients on home dialysis modalities and IC-HD. Compared with IC-HD, PD was associated with lower risk of MACE among female patients and higher risk among male patients.

BACKGROUND

Among dialysis patients, cardiovascular events are the leading cause of death. Little is known about how the frequency and type of cardiovascular events differ between various dialysis modalities. We compared risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients who started continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), automated peritoneal dialysis (APD), and home hemodialysis with in-center hemodialysis (IC-HD) patients.

METHODS

We included 968 patients who entered dialysis in the Helsinki-Uusimaa health care district in Finland from 2004 to 2017, of whom 162 were on CAPD, 229 on APD, 145 on home hemodialysis, and 432 on IC-HD at day 90 from the start of dialysis. MACE was defined as acute myocardial infarction, stroke, or death due to cardiovascular disease. The cumulative incidence of the first MACE was calculated. Cox regression was used to compare risk of MACE between dialysis modalities with adjustment for potential confounding factors.

RESULTS

Of all 968 patients, 195 (20%) experienced a MACE during the entire follow-up and 62 (6%) during the first year of follow-up. The cumulative incidence of first MACE was similar in IC-HD and CAPD patients and higher than that in APD and home hemodialysis patients. After adjustment for possible confounders, the hazard ratio (HR) of MACE was 1.22 (95% confidence intervals [CIs], 0.73 to 2.05) for CAPD, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.47 to 1.57) for APD and 0.67 (95% CI, 0.30 to 1.50) for home hemodialysis compared with IC-HD. Unexpectedly, compared with IC-HD, peritoneal dialysis associated with lower risk of MACE among female patients (HR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.14 to 0.99) and higher risk among male patients (HR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.11 to 2.92).

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort, the risk of MACE was comparable across in-center and home dialysis modalities. However, the result differed between male patients and female patients, which requires further research.