Cardiovascular risk in hemodialysis in Spain: prevalence, management and target results (MAR study)

Cardiovacular disease is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, there are no reliable data neither on the prevalence of cardiovacular disease nor its risk factors in Spain. The Morbidity and mortality Anemia Renal study (MAR) is a two-year multicenter, open-label, prospective cohorts study. Its main objective is to assess the general morbidity and mortality, particularly of a cardiovascular cause, and its relationship with the degree of anemia. Secondary objectives are: a/ the description of current clinical practices in anemia, dialysis, vascular access, and CV risk factor management; and b/ the description of hospitalization and mortality causes. This paper describes the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and risk factors of the HD population in Spain. A total of 1.710 patients were included (60% male, aged 64.4 years, 16.2 months on HD). The mean co-morbidity Charlson index was 6.5 +/- 2.3. Cardiovascular disease was the most prevalent comorbidity, 16.7% had a coronary disease, and 13.9% had different degrees of heart failure, while 11.6% had arrhythmia, 1.7% stroke and 5.5% peripheral artery disease. The prevalence of hypertension was 75.8%, 74.4% of patients received antihypertensive drugs, and still 40% of patients had an inadequate blood pressure control. The investigators considered as dyslipidemic 34.1% of patients, and prescribed treatment to 69.5% of them, while the remaining 30.5% (10.4% of the total) had hyperlipidemia with no drug therapy. Eleven percent was active smoker, and 26.6% former smoker. There was 47.4% of patients with a corporal mass index above 25. Secondary hyperparathyroidism with PTH above of 300 pg/ml was present in 22.2% of patients. Despite the EBPG and K-DOQI recommendations, only 68.8% of prevalent hemodialysis patients attained a hemoglobin (Hb) above 11 g/dl, 89.4% ferritin levels above 100 ng/ml, 66.5 degrees/a a transferrin saturation index (TSI) above 20%, and 61.1% met all three objectives. In summary, this first cross-sectional analysis has allowed us to know in detail the standard practice in multiple aspects of management of HD population in Spain. It has also established clear differences in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and risk factors from the US registries. Last but not least we have identified therapeutic opportunities to improve the course and prognosis of our patients.