Association of inflammatory cytokines with mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients

Previous study on association between pro-inflammatory cytokines and mortality in PD population is limited. We aimed to investigate here.

Total 50 patients who underwent incident PD were enrolled in this study. We measured the titers of pro-inflammatory cytokines Interleukin-18(IL-18), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and Interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß). Study outcomes were all-cause mortality, cardiovascular-related mortality, and infection-caused mortality. Cox-regression model was used.

In this 7 year prospective study, IL-18 ≥ 804.3pg/ml, IL-6 ≥ 3.92 pg/ml, IL-1ß ≥ 0.86pg/ml, age ≥ 50 years-old, and existence of diabetes could be used as individual significant predictors for mortality in PD patients. Higher titers of IL-6 were associated with lower averaging albumin levels within 1^st year of PD. Increasing numbers of these risk markers of mortality was associated with decreasing survival advantages (P = 0.001).

Age ≥ 50 years-old, diabetes, and inflammatory cytokines profiles at the start of PD therapy could predict for 7-year mortality in PD population.