A comparison of the risk of congestive heart failure-related hospitalizations in patients receiving hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis - A retrospective propensity score-matched study

INTRODUCTION: Congestive heart failure (CHF) is associated with high mortality and a heavy financial and healthcare burden in the dialysis population. Determining which dialysis modality is associated with a higher risk of developing CHF might facilitate clinical decision making and surveillance programs in the dialysis population. METHODS: Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database, we recruited all incident dialysis patients during the period from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2010. The propensity score matching method was applied to establish the matched hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) cohort. Incidence rates and cumulative incidence rates of CHF-related hospitalization were first compared for the HD and PD patients. Multivariable subdistribution hazards models were then constructed to control for potential confounders. RESULTS: Among a total of 65,899 enrolled dialysis patients, 4,754 matched pairs of HD and PD patients were identified. The incidence rates of CHF in the matched HD and PD patients were 25.98 and 19.71 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (P = 0.001). The cumulative incidence rate of CHF was also higher in the matched HD patients (0.16, 95% confidence interval (CI)(0.12–0.21)] than in the corresponding PD patients (0.09, 95% CI [0.08–0.11])(P<0.0001). HD was consistently associated with an increased subdistribution hazard ratio (HR) of CHF compared with PD in the matched cohort (HR: 1.45, 95% CI [1.23–1.7]). Similar phenomenons were observed in either the subgroup analysis stratified by selected confounders or in the HD and PD group without matching. CONCLUSIONS: HD is associated with a higher risk of developing CHF-related hospitalization than PD. The surveillance program for CHF should differ in patients receiving different dialysis modalities.