High-sensitivity cardiac troponin, a cardiac marker predicting death in patients with kidney disease: a dose-response meta-analysis of cohort studies

Patients with kidney disease are at increased risk of adverse mortality events. Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive association of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and I (hs-cTnI) with all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality in patients with kidney disease; however, the dose-response meta-analysis has not been reported. We therefore performed this study to evaluate the dose-response associations of hs-cTn with risk of all-cause and CV mortality to improve risk stratification. We searched three databases (PubMed, Embase and Web of Science) to identify relevant prospective cohort studies published up to 12 January 2021. Random-effects models were used to summarize relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of all-cause and CV mortality. Restricted cubic splines were used to fit the dose-response associations. For each 10 ng/l increase in hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI, the risk increased by 14% (RR = 1.14, 95% CI, 1.10-1.18) and 19% (RR = 1.19, 95% CI, 1.09-1.31) for all-cause mortality, 25% (RR = 1.25, 95% CI, 1.13-1.38) and 19% (RR = 1.19, 95% CI, 1.10-1.29) for CV mortality. A linear trend was found between hs-cTnT and all-cause mortality, whereas a non-linear trend was found in hs-cTnI. Additionally, both hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI were shown to have linear trends with CV mortality. Our meta-analysis suggests that hs-cTn had high sensitivity in predicting mortality events. All dose-response trends were rising rather than falling, conferring that any increase in the levels of hs-cTn may possibly predict a death prognosis among chronic kidney disease patients.