The long-term prognostic factors in hemodialysis patients with acute coronary syndrome: perspectives from sarcopenia and malnutrition

Hemodialysis (HD) patients tend to have sarcopenia and malnutrition, and both conditions are related to poor prognosis in the cardiovascular disease that often accompanies HD. However, the impact of sarcopenia or malnutrition on the long-term prognosis of HD patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains unclear. We analyzed 1,605 consecutive patients with ACS who had undergone PCI at a single center between January 2009 and December 2014. We evaluated all-cause mortality and prognosis-associated factors, including sarcopenia/malnutrition-related factors such as the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), and Skeletal Muscle Mass Index (SMI). After exclusions, 1461 patients were enrolled, and 58 (4.0%) were on HD. The HD group had lower levels of SMI and GNRI than non-HD group, and had worse in-hospital prognosis. Moreover, HD group had a significant higher mortality in the long-term follow-up [median follow-up period: 1219 days; Hazard Ratio (HR) = 4.09, p < 0.001]. After adjusting the covariates, SMI and GNRI were the factors associated with all-cause mortality in all patients [SMI: adjusted HR (aHR) = 2.39, p = 0.036; GNRI: aHR = 2.21, p = 0.006]; however, these findings were not observed among HD patients with ACS, and only diabetes was significantly associated with all-cause mortality (diabetes: aHR = 3.50, p = 0.031). HD patients with ACS had a significantly higher rate of in-hospital and long-term mortality than non-HD patients. Although sarcopenia and malnutrition were related to mortality and were more common in HD patients, sarcopenia and malnutrition had a lower impact than diabetes on the long-term prognosis of HD patients with ACS.