Cardiovascular Deaths among CAPD Patients

Abstract

Forty-four of the 508 CAPD patients in Toronto died of cardiovascular complications during the period september 1977 -October 1982. More than 80% of these patients had evidence of ischemic or hypertensive heart disease before commencement of CAPD. The survival of CAPD patients, who were free of cardiac problems before starting CAPD, was significantly better than those who had angina pectoris, myocardial infarction or cardiomegaly at the onset of CAPD. The de novo incidence of ischemic heart disease in patients between ages 40 and 59 (n = 70) was 8.8% at the end of the first year, and 15%() at the end of the second year. These figures were comparable to those reported for hemodialysis patients but worse than those in nonuremic patients with similar risk factors. After starting CAPD, 68.2% of the initially hypertensive patients became normotensive without taking any medication, and 25.8%() became normotensive with a reduced dose of antihypertensive medications. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean fasting plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels of patients with and those without coronary artery disease.