Intervention Associated Acute Kidney Injury and Long-Term Cardiovascular Outcomes

Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been associated with all-cause short- and long-term mortality. However, its association with cardiovascular (CV) events remains unclear. We sought to investigate this in patients undergoing open (OAR) or endovascular (EVAR) abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, as they are likely to develop both AKI and CV morbidity. A meta-analysis was subsequently performed to confirm this in other CV-interventions.

AKI-incidence was assessed in a multicentre-cohort of 1,068 patients undergoing EVAR (947 individuals) or OAR electively using the 'Acute Kidney Injury Network' criteria. A composite-endpoint was used, consisting of non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, vascular event, hospitalisation due to heart failure and CV death. A systematic literature review identified studies reporting AKI-incidence and CV events. Risk ratios (RRs) at 1 and 5 years were combined using meta-analysis.

During a median follow-up of 62 months (range 11-121), AKI was associated with CV events on adjusted (for CV risk-factors) analyses (Incidence 36% of EVAR, 32% of OAR patients; hazard ratio 1.73, 95% CI 1.06-3.39, p=0.03) for the overall population. In the meta-analysis, 7 studies reported incidence of MI on 23,936 patients 1-year after coronary intervention (PCI) with a pooled RR of 1.76 (95% CI 1.45-2.83, p<0.001); at 2 years, 3 studies reported MI incidence on 17,773 patients after PCI with a pooled RR of 1.34 (95% CI 1.10-1.63, p=0.003). MI-incidence was reported 5 years after cardiac surgery by 3 studies (33,701 patients) with a pooled RR of 1.60 (95% CI 1.43-1.81).

AKI is associated with long-term CV events after surgery or endovascular intervention.