Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, angiotensin receptor blocker use, and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Objectives: The study objective was to assess the association between angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) use and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Background: There is insufficient evidence about the association of ACEI or ARBs with mortality in patients with CKD.

Methods: A logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the propensity of ACEI/ARB initiation in 141,413 U.

Outcomes associated with microalbuminuria: effect modification by chronic kidney disease.

Objectives: This study sought to compare the association of microalbuminuria with outcomes in patients with different comorbidities.

Background: The risk of adverse outcomes associated with lower levels proteinuria has been found to be linearly decreasing with even low-normal levels of microalbuminuria. It is unclear whether comorbid conditions change these associations.

Survival advantage in black versus white men with CKD: effect of estimated GFR and case mix.

Background: Black dialysis patients have significantly lower mortality compared with white patients, in contradistinction to the higher mortality seen in blacks in the general population. It is unclear whether a similar paradox exists in patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD), and if it does, what its underlying reasons are.

Study Design: Historical cohort.

Association of depression and antidepressant use with mortality in a large cohort of patients with nondialysis-dependent CKD.

Background And Objectives: Depression is common and is associated with higher mortality in patients with ESRD or CKD (stage 5). Less information is available on earlier stages of CKD. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression and any association with all-cause mortality in patients with varying severity of nondialysis-dependent CKD.

Hyponatremia, hypernatremia, and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease with and without congestive heart failure.

Background: Hyponatremia is common in patients with conditions such as congestive heart failure and is associated with increased mortality in hospitalized patients. Congestive heart failure is common in patients with chronic kidney disease, but the association of serum sodium concentration with mortality in such patients is not well characterized.

Methods And Results: We examined the association of serum sodium concentration with all-cause mortality in a nationally representative cohort of 655 493 US veterans with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (95 961 [15%] of them with congestive heart failure).