Peripheral vascular disease severity impacts health outcomes and health-related quality of life in maintenance hemodialysis patients in the HEMO Study.

BACKGROUND In patients with end-stage renal disease, peripheral vascular disease (PVD) is prevalent. We assessed the extent to which severity of PVD predicts mortality, hospitalizations and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in hemodialysis (HD) patients enrolled in the Hemodialysis (HEMO) Study. METHODS We performed a subanalysis of the HEMO Study, a randomized controlled trial. Adjusted predictors of PVD were analyzed through a multivariable stepwise ordinal logistic model. Relationships between PVD severity and mortality and hospitalizations were determined with Cox proportional hazards models. Relationships between PVD severity and HRQOL were modeled via linear regression and generalized estimating equations. RESULTS Older age, diabetes, non-African-American race, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and longer transplant wait time were associated with more severe PVD. Patients with severe PVD were more likely to suffer from all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 1.77, 95% confidence interval 1.30-2.40, P<0.001], cardiac death [HR 1.89 (95% confidence interval 1.15-3.11), P=0.001] and infectious death [HR 1.75 (95% confidence interval 1.30-2.34), P<0.001]. Increasing PVD severity was also associated with first cardiac hospitalization or all-cause mortality (P=0.05) and first cardiac hospitalization or cardiac death (P=0.03). HRQOL scores were lower for patients with increasingly severe PVD. CONCLUSIONS These findings underscore the burden of clinically symptomatic PVD in HD patients and its impact on morbidity and mortality. Whether early detection of PVD and prompt initiation of therapy to prevent its progression in the HD population would improve HRQOL and survival outcomes remain to be proven.