Table 1.
Characteristics of the included articles
| Studies | Study design | Total patients | Duration of follow-up (months) | Analyzed CRP as continuous variable/elevated variable | Cardiac troponin assays (T or I) | Adjustment | Downs-Black criteria scores |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Böger 2005, Germany (27) | Prospective observational study | 445 | 46.8 | Elevated variable | N/A | Age, hemodialysis duration, gender, smoking history, body mass index, medication, history of diabetes mellitus, history of coronary artery disease | 19 |
| Menon 2005, USA (16) | Randomized controlled study | 697 | 125 | Elevated variable | N/A | Age, gender, race, randomization to different protein diets and blood pressure strata, diabetes, current smoking, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, etiology of kidney disease | 16 |
| Tripepi 2005, Italy (28) | Randomized controlled study | 217 | 41 | Elevated variable | N/A | Cardiovascular death, namely age, gender, smoking, diabetes, systolic BP, previous cardiovascular events, asymmetric dimethylarginine | 17 |
| Hocher 2008, Germany (29) | Randomized controlled study | 230 | 52 | Elevated variable | T | No adjustment | 15 |
| Hocher 2003, Germany (30) | Randomized controlled study | 245 | 25 | Elevated variable | T | No adjustment | 16 |
| Panichi 2008, Italy (31) | Randomized controlled study | 757 | 30 | Elevated variable | N/A | No adjustment | 14 |
| Boulier 2004, France (32) | Randomized controlled study | 191 | 13 | Elevated variable | I | Age, sex, duration of dialysis, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, dialysis center, HD modality, total cholesterol, triglycerides | 16 |
| Shlipak 2005, USA (4) | Randomized controlled study | 1249 | 103.2 | Continuous variable | N/A | Age, sex, race, education, prevalent cardiovascular disease, elevated systolic blood pressure, diabetes, current smoking, HDL of 40 mg/dL or less, LDL of 130 mg/dL or more, triglycerides, alcohol use, obesity, physical activity, left ventricular hypertrophy, and diuretic use | 18 |
| Zoccali 2011, Italy (33) | Randomized controlled study | 537 | 29 | Elevated variable | N/A | Age, gender, cardiovascular comorbidities, Kt/V and dialysis duration | 18 |
| Paniagua 2010, Mexico (34) | Randomized controlled study | 753 | 16 | Continuous variable | T | No adjustment | 15 |
| Rao 2008, USA (35) | Randomized controlled study | 182 | 78 | Continuous variable | N/A | No adjustment | 14 |
| Kawaguchi 2011, International (36) | Randomized controlled study | 2181 | 24 | Continuous variable | N/A | Age, sex, vintage, BMI, spKt/V, hemoglobin, albumin, calcium, phosphorus, nPCR, BUN, creatinine, white blood cell count, total cholesterol, uric acid, ferritin, dialysis time, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus and other comorbidities | 18 |
| deFilippi 2003, USA (37) | Randomized controlled study | 224 | 27 | Elevated variable | T | Age, white race, sex, length of time receiving dialysis, history of smoking, coronary disease, or diabetes, levels of albumin, dialysis dose (Kt/V), BSA | 20 |
| McMurray 2011, International (17) | Randomized controlled study | 4038 | 42.5 | Elevated variable | N/A | Age, serum albumin, coronary heart disease, diabetes complications, arrhythmia, glycated hemoglobin, reticulocytes, BUN, cerebrovascular disease, gender, race, hemoglobin level, treatment, smoking status, heart rate, BMI, and other confounding factors | 20 |
| Schneider 2013, International (38) | Randomized controlled study | 2776 | 38.4 | Continuous variable | N/A | No adjustment | 18 |
| McMahon 2012, Australia (39) | Randomized controlled study | 302 | 24 | Continuous variable | N/A | Age, duration of dialysis, peripheral vascular disease, ESA dose, hemoglobin | 17 |
| Stenvinkel 2002, International (40) | Randomized controlled study | 663 | 33±1 | Elevated variable | N/A | Age, body mass index, renal center, gender | 15 |
| Kalantar-Zadeh 2004, USA (41) | Randomized controlled study | 378 | 12 | Elevated variable | N/A | Age, gender, race, ethnicity, insurance status, diabetes mellitus, Charlson co-morbidity score, dialysis vintage, dialysis dose, BMI history of cardiovascular disease | 18 |
| Nascimento 2004, International (42) | Randomized controlled study | 180 | 21 | Continuous variable | N/A | Event-free times for age, SGA, CRP, S-Alb, fibrinogen, gender | 17 |
| Grootendorst 2007, International (43) | Randomized controlled study | 840 | 36 | Elevated variable | N/A | Age, gender, PKD, Khan comorbidity score, BMI, smoking habit, GFR | 16 |
| Acharji 2012, USA (18) | Randomized controlled study | 2179 | 12 | N/A | T and I | Differences in baseline clinical, ECG, laboratory findings | 20 |
| Dierkes 2000, Germany (44) | Randomized controlled study | 102 | 24 | N/A | T | Age, time on dialysis, baseline diabetes, cerebrovascular disease | 18 |
| Apple 2002, USA (45) | Randomized controlled study | 733 | 36 | N/A | T and I | Age, pre-draw history of coronary artery disease, time since initial hemodialysis | 17 |
| Hocher 2004, Germany (46) | Randomized controlled study | 245 | 38 | N/A | T | No adjustment | 15 |
| Ooi 1999, Canada (20) | Randomized controlled study | 172 | 12 | N/A | T | No adjustment | 12 |
| Ishii 2001, Japan (47) | Randomized controlled study | 100 | 24 | N/A | T | No adjustment | 12 |
| Deegan 2001, UK (48) | Randomized controlled study | 73 | 15 | N/A | T | No adjustment | 12 |
| Peetz 2003, Germany (49) | Randomized controlled study | 104 | 6 | N/A | T and I | No adjustment | 12 |
| Yakupoglu 2002, Turkey (50) | Randomized controlled study | 38 | 48 | N/A | I | No adjustment | 13 |
| Stolear 1999, Belgium (51) | Randomized controlled study | 94 | 12 | N/A | T | No adjustment | 14 |
| Löwbeer 2002, Sweden (52) | Randomized controlled study | 26 | 48 | N/A | T | No adjustment | 13 |
| Wood 2003, UK (19) | Randomized controlled study | 96 | 24 | N/A | T | Age, sex, diabetes mellitus, history of cardiovascular disease, serum creatinine | 17 |