Low resistin level is associated with poor hospitalization-free survival in hemodialysis patients

Malnutrition and inflammation are related to high rates of morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis patients. Resistin is associated with nutrition and inflammation. We attempted to determine whether resistin levels may predict clinical outcomes in hemodialysis patients. We conducted a prospective evaluation of 100 outpatients on hemodialysis in a single dialysis center (male, 46%; mean age, 53.7 ± 16.4 yr). We stratified the patients into 4 groups according to quartiles of serum resistin levels. During the 18-month observational period, patients with the lowest quartile of serum resistin levels had poor hospitalization-free survival (log rank test, P = 0.016). After adjustment of all co-variables, patients with the lowest quartile of serum resistin levels had poor hospitalization-free survival, compared with reference resistin levels. Higher levels of interleukin-6 were an independent predictor of poor hospitalization-free survival. In contrast, serum resistin levels were not correlated with interleukin-6 levels. The current data showed that low resistin levels may independently predict poor hospitalization free survival in hemodialysis patients.