Table 1. Summary of study characteristics.
| Author/country | Stage of CKD | Dialysis Modality | Sample size (ratio men: women) | Mean age | Follow-up yr. | Baseline comorbidities of study sample (%) | Study Factor | Outcome Factor | NOS score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wang 2020 [45]/China | ESRD | HD | 205 (1.6) | 59.0 | 3.0 | HTN (90); DM (29.3) | Biomarkers soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (sST2) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) | all-cause and cardiovascular mortality | 3 |
| Zhang 2020 [44]/China | ESRD | HD | 252 (1.3) | 57.1 | 6.1 | HTN (31.3), Coronary Heart Disease (6.7), DM (12.3), Cerebral infarction (14.3), Cerebral haemorrhage (3.2) | Plasma Trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO) | cardiovascular and all-cause mortality | 2 |
| Yu 2020 [19]/China | ESRD | HD | 358 (1.1) | 74.0 | 11 | DM (50.3), HTN (95.8), CHF (13.7), Stroke (12), Arrhythmia (8.1), CHD (3.9), Peripheral vascular disease (0.8), Cancer (4.2) | Impact of vascular access | cardiovascular and all-cause mortality | 6 |
| Lee 2020 [59]/Taiwan | 3–5 | No | 472 (1.1) | 66.8 | 2.0 | DM (36.70); HTN (75.80); Coronary artery disease (19.6); Cerebrovascular disease (8.1); CHF (12) | Upstroke time | Cardiovascular and all-cause mortality | 4 |
| Tsai 2020 [55]/Taiwan | ESRD | PD | 133 (0.8) | 56.0 | 6.4 | DM (21.05), HTN (84.96) | Heart rhythm complexity | cardiovascular mortality | 3 |
| Simsek 2020 [60]/Turkey | 3,4 | No | 191 (0.7) | 66.3 | 6.3 | DM (19.40), HTN (57.10), Previous coronary heart disease (7.30), Dyslipidaemia (66.00) | N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level | Mortality | 5 |
| Toyama 2019 [16]/Japan | ESRD | HD | 286 (2.8) | 70.5 | 2.0 | DM (34.62); HTN (77.98); Dyslipidaemia (49.30); Prior myocardial infarction (11.89) | stress myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) | cardiovascular/cerebrovascular events | 3 |
| Mizuiri 2019 [47]/Japan | ESRD | HD | 353 (2.0) | 68.0 | 3.0 | DM (40.2) | hypomagnesemia | All-cause and cardiovascular mortality | 3 |
| Chen 2019 [58]/Taiwan | 3–5 | No | 568 (1.5) | 66.0 | 2.7 | DM (57.57); HTN (85.56); CAD (79); Cerebrovascular disease (59) | aortic arch calcification (AoAC) and cardio-thoracic ratio (CTR) | all-cause and cardiovascular mortality | 5 |
| Yadav 2019 [46]/The Netherlands | ESRD | HD | 199 (1.5) | 70.0 | 4.0 | DM (39); HTN (79); CVD (55) | digital brachial index | Survival rates | 3 |
| Cano-Megias 2019 [57]/Spain | 4,5 | HD | 137 (1.2) | 61.5 | 10.0 | DM (27.7); HTN (89); CAD (20.1); Cerebrovascular disease (11.3); Previous cardiologic event (26.3) | coronary artery calcification (CaC) | Overall and cardiovascular mortality | 3 |
| Wu 2019 [28]/China | ESRD* | HD | 169 (1.20) | 60.2 | 7.0 | NA | baseline serum magnesium level | mortality | 4 |
| Saglimbene 2019 [29]/Europe and South America | ESRD | HD | 8110 (1.40) | 63.1 | 2.7 | HTN (85), DM (32), HF (19.1), MI (11.60), stroke (8.8), pulmonary disease (11.6), gastrointestinal disease (21.7) | n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid dietary intake | mortality | 6 |
| Gong 2018 [48]/China | ESRD* | PD | 98 (0.96) | 52.5 | 6.0 | DM (21.4), History of CVD (7.1) | elevated serum sclerostin levels | mortality | 3 |
| Yayar 2018 [30]/Turkey | ESRD* | HD | 82 (0.78) | 57.9 | 4.0 | DM (26.8), History of CVD (35.4) | serum hepcidin-25 & sub-clinic atherosclerosis | mortality | 5 |
| Kawagoe 2018 [31]/Japan | ESRD* | HD | 1310 (1.40) | 67.9 | 2.0 | Not Reported | N-terminal-pro-B-type-natriuretic peptide | mortality | 5 |
| Kon 2018 [62]/Japan | 3–5 | Not clear | 27,362 (1.20) | 70.2 | 5.0 | Stroke (19.6), Heart disease (29.2) | baseline eGFR | 5-year all-cause & cardiovascular mortality | 3 |
| Navaneethan 2018 [21]/US | 3–5 | NA | 38,377 (0.80) | 71.7 | 4.5 | HTN (87.2), DM (29.8), CAD (24.2), HF (7.8), Cerebrovascular disease (10.4), PVC (3.7) | high-density lipoprotein cholesterol | mortality | 4 |
| Zhang 2017 [25]/China | ESRD* | HD | 414 (1.60) | 61.8 | 1.9 | DM (22.9), HTN (94), CVD (9.2) | soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 | mortality | 4 |
| Wu 2017 [49]/Taiwan | ESRD* | PD | 190 (0.80) | 52.6 | 4.6 | DM (15.3), CVD (21.1) | chest X-ray-detected aortic arch calcification | mortality | 6 |
| Peng 2017 [50]/China | ESRD* | PD | 345 (1.40) | 52.8 | 2.1 | DM (23.5), HTN (43.2), CVD (20) | prognostic nutritional index | cardiovascular disease mortality | 3 |
| Jeng 2017 [32]/Taiwan | ESRD* | HD | 136 (1.20) | 60.3 | 5.6 | DM (50), HTN (72.1), CVD (53.4) | proinflammatory monocytes levels | all-cause & cardiovascular mortality | 4 |
| Antunovic 2017 [20]/ Montenegro | ESRD | HD | 62 (0.90) | 57.8 | 2.0 | DM (8.1), HTN (32.3) | high-sensitive troponin I | mortality | 3 |
| Isla 2016 [17]/South Africa | ESRD | HD & PD | 340 (1.10) | 36.1 | 3.1 | DM (10.3), HTN (25.9) HIV positive (3.1) | causes and predictors | mortality | 4 |
| Lu 2016 [33]/Taiwan | ESRD* | HD | 154 (0.90) | 69.1 | 4.2 | DM (55.9), HTN (68.8) | number of endothelial progenitor cells | cardiovascular and all-cause mortality | 4 |
| Merle 2016 [22]/France | ESRD* | HD | 1983 (1.60) | 67.9 | 2.0 | DM (37.7), HTN (79.1), CVD (54.6) | low parathyroid hormone (PTH) status | mortality | 4 |
| Chen 2015 [37]/China | ESRD* | HD | 110 (1.40) | 55.2 | 3.5 | DM (57.3) | aortic artery calcification, cardiac valve calcification | mortality | 3 |
| Flythe 2015 [36]/US | ESRD* | HD | 10,758 (1.20) | 61.0 | 3.0 | DM (59.1), Heart Failure (43.1), CAD (13.4) | post-dialysis weights above and below the prescribed target weight | mortality | 5 |
| Tsai 2015 [35]/Taiwan | ESRD* | HD | 444 (0.87) | 61.6 | 4.3 | DM (32.7), CVD (20.9) | site of peripheral artery occlusive disease | all-cause & cardiovascular mortality | 6 |
| Oh 2015 [51]/Korea | ESRD* | PD | 335 (1.60) | 53.5 | 1.8 | DM (41.8), HTN (48.1), Coronary arterial disease (11.3), Peripheral arterial disease (7.5) | 3 biomarkers (N-terminal-pro-B-type-natriuretic peptide, Cardiac troponin T and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) | mortality | 4 |
| Ulusoy 2015 [34]/Turkey | ESRD | HD | 238 (1.40) | 60.3 | 2.0 | DM (36.3), HTN (30.9), Peripheral vascular disease (6.3) | tenascin-C levels | cardiac mortality | 4 |
| Yoshitomi 2014 [61]/Japan | 3–5 | NA | 320 (2.10) | 70.0 | 2.5 | HTN (94), DM (51), History of CVD (19), Dyslipidaemia (73), History of IHD (19) | ankle-brachial blood pressure index | cardiovascular events and mortality | 1 |
| Okamoto 2014 [56]/Japan | ESRD* | HD, PD | 126 (1.30) | 67.0 | 5.0 | DM (52.4) | visceral fat area | mortality | 2 |
| Li 2014 [38]/China | ESRD* | HD | 278 (1.20) | 1.8 | DM (33.8), HTN (91.1), History of CVD (30.6) | pulmonary hypertension | cardiovascular mortality and events | 5 | |
| Honneger Bloch 2014 [39]/New Zealand | ESRD* | HD | 238 (1.10) | 63.0 | 2.0 | DM (64), History of MI (67) | high sensitivity troponin T | mortality | 4 |
| Oh 2014 [24]/Korea | ESRD | HD | 864 (1.50) | 59.7 | 1.5 | DM (56.3), HTN (48) | 3 biomarkers (N-terminal-pro-B-type-natriuretic peptide, Cardiac troponin T and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) | mortality | 3 |
| Avramovski 2014 [26]/Macedonia | ESRD* | HD | 80 (2.00) | 59.3 | 2.6 | DM (20), HTN (46.2) | aortic pulse wave velocity | all-cause and cardiovascular mortality | 3 |
| Arsov 2014 [42]/ Macedonia, Germany, Sweden | ESRD* | HD | 169 (1.60) | 56.0 | 3.0 | DM (24), HTN (18), CVD (18) | skin autofluorescence and release of heart-type fatty acid binding protein in plasma | overall & CVD mortality | 3 |
| Lim 2013 [40]/Taiwan | ESRD* | HD | 248 (1.00) | 65.0 | 4.9 | DM (51.2), HTN (75.4) | serum oxidized albumin | all-cause & cardiovascular mortality | 4 |
| Li 2013 [52]/China | ESRD* | PD | 66 (0.89) | 62.1 | 3.5 | Non-diabetic, History of CVD (9.1) | insulin resistance | cardiovascular morbidity and mortality | 4 |
| Genovesi 2013 [27]/Italy | ESRD* | HD | 122 (1.80) | 69.8 | 3.9 | Ischaemic heart disease (37.7), DM (27.1), HTN (84.4), Dilated cardiomyopathy (41.8), Valvular heart disease (23.8), Dyslipidaemia (18), Ischaemic cerebral disease (14.8), Atrial fibrillation (41.8) | various risk factors | total mortality & sudden cardiac death | 3 |
| den Hoedt 2013 [41]/ Netherlands, Canada, Norway | ESRD | HD | 714 (1.70) | 64.1 | 3.0 | DM (24), History of CVD (44) | online hemodiafiltration versus low-flux haemodialysis | all-cause & CV morbidity and mortality | 4 |
| Murthy 2012 [18]/US | CKD Stages 3–5 | Not clear | 866 (1.00) | 71.1 | 1.3 | DM (44.8), HTN (91.2), Dyslipidaemia (70), Recent MI < = 30 days (18.9), Remote MI >30 days (22.6), Cerebrovascular disease (8), Peripheral vascular disease (9.1) | vasodilator function | mortality | 3 |
| An 2012 [54]/China | ESRD* | PD | 138 (1.40) | 53.0 | 3.2 | DM (23.9), CAD (29.1), Cerebrovascular disease (7.7), PVD (2.6) | neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio | cardiovascular & all-cause mortality | 6 |
| Wu 2012 [15]/Taiwan | ESRD* | HD | 112 (0.44) | 72.6 | 2.8 | DM (62.5), HTN (56.3) | Serum free p-cresyl sulphate levels | all-cause and CV mortality | 2 |
| Lee 2012 [53]/Taiwan | ESRD* | PD | 415 (1.30) | 55.8 | 2.9 | DM (47.2), CVD (34.9) | prevalence of aortic arch calcification | mortality | 6 |
| Kakiya 2012 [43]/Japan | ESRD* | HD | 494 (1.70) | 60.9 | 4.2 | Diabetic Nephropathy (22.3), HTN (86.2), Pre-existing CVD (33.6) | serum adrenal androgen dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate levels | mortality | 4 |
| Ogawa 2010 [23]/Japan | ESRD* | HD | 401 (2.10) | 61.5 | 4 | DM (33.2) | aortic arch calcification score | all-cause & cardiovascular mortality | 3 |
HD = Haemodialysis, PD = Peritoneal dialysis, ESRD = End-Stage Renal Disease, DM = Diabetes mellitus, HTN = Hypertension, CVD = Cardiovascular disease, PVD = Peripheral vascular disease, HF = Heart failure, MI = Myocardial infarction, CAD = Coronary artery disease. NOS = Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.
*Patients received dialysis therapy and thus assumed to have ESRD.