Hyperkalemia in chronic heart failure with renal dysfunction or diabetes mellitus: Results from the TREAT HF study

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are common comorbidities in heart failure (HF). Patients with HF are at a high risk of hyperkalemia, and are therefore undertreated with respect to disease-modifying therapies. The Turkish Research Team-Heart Failure (TREAT HF) data were analyzed for the evaluation of hyperkalemia in real-life clinical practice in HF patients with CKD or DM.

The TREAT HF is a multicenter, national, observational registry. In this study, potassium levels of 1028 patients with HF were analyzed. Hyperkalemia is defined as blood potassium levels >5 mEq/L and evaluated based on the CKD, DM, HF medications, and New York Heart Association (NYHA) classes.

Overall, 14.3% of patients (n=147) were found to have hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia was more prevalent in patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 than those with eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (17.7% and 12%, respectively, p=0.010). Hyperkalemia was present in 10.9% (n=23) of patients with stage 1, 12.6% (n=50) with stage 2, 17.0% (n=52) with stage 3, and 19.5% (n=22) with stage 4-5 CKD. Hyperkalemia was higher in patients with DM (20.5% vs 12.3%, p=0.001). Furthermore, hyperkalemia was much higher in patients with DM with eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (25.2%). The rate of hyperkalemia increased across NYHA categories (NYHA-I: 9.8%, NYHA-II: 12.8%, NYHA-III: 14.4%, and NYHA-IV: 23.4%, p=0.030). In patients with stage 4-5 CKD who were receiving renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitor therapy, more patients had hyperkalemia than those not receiving RAAS inhibitor therapy (23.4% and 12.5%, respectively).

In clinical practice, 14.3% of all patients with HF, 17.7% of all patients with CKD, and 20.5% of all patients with DM have hyperkalemia. The risk of hyperkalemia increases with advanced stages of CKD or NYHA and the risk is higher in patients receiving RAAS inhibitor therapy.