Prevalence of hyperkalemia associated risk factors and morbidity and mortality in patients on hemodialysis

Introduction: Sudden death is the leading cause of death in patients with CKD on chronic hemodialysis (HD).Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of hyperkalemia (HK) in patients treated with HD, the risk factors associated with its development, and to determine its association with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality.Materials and methods: Retrospective cohort study including 153 HD patients. Serum K (potassium) was recorded from November 2020 for six months in a short interdialytic period.Results: The prevalence of HK (K>5.1) was 35.3% (n=54). When comparing hyperkalemic (HK) vs. normokalemic (NK) patients, we found significant age differences (61 vs. 68 years p: 0.013), time on dialysis (83 vs. 51 months p= 0.002), vascular access (AVF/prosthesis) (88.9 vs. 67.7% p= 0.016) and use of K chelators (20.4 vs. 4% p= 0.003), with a tendency to significance in the Charlson score (5 vs. 6 p= 0.07). In the multivariate analysis, the Charlson Score (OR: 1.36, CICI 1.19-1.55, p<0.001) and hospitalizations (OR: 5, CI 2.18-11.68, p<0.001) were associated with higher mortality, while HK remained as a protective factor (OR: 0.287, CI 0.124%E2%80%930.664 p: 0.004).Conclusion: HK was associated with lower age and Charlson scores than NK. HK was significantly associated with lower all-cause mortality.