Unexplained sudden death in patients on the waiting list for renal transplantation

The incidence of unexplained sudden death (SD) and the factors involved in its occurrence in patients with chronic kidney disease are not well known.

We investigated the incidence and the role of co-morbidities in unexplained SD in 1139 haemodialysis patients on the renal transplant waiting list.

Forty-four patients died from SD of undetermined causes (20% of all deaths; 3.9 deaths/1000 patients per year), while 178 died from other causes and 917 survived. SD patients were older and likely to have diabetes, hypertension, past/present cardiovascular disease, higher left ventricular mass index, and lower ejection fraction. Multivariate analysis showed that cardiovascular disease of any type was the only independent predictor of SD (P = 0.0001, HR = 2.13, 95% CI 1.46-3.22). Alterations closely associated with ischaemic heart disease like angina, previous myocardial infarction and altered myocardial scan were not independent predictors of SD. The incidence of unexplained SD in these haemodialysis patients is high and probably a consequence of pre-existing cardiovascular disease.

Factors influencing SD in dialysis patients are not substantially different from factors in the general population. The role played by ischaemic heart disease in this context needs further evaluation.