Atrial fibrillation linked to vascular access thrombosis in chronic hemodialysis patients.

Aim: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is characterized by the development of thromboembolic events and is more prevalent among end-stage renal disease patients than in the general population. Vascular access thrombosis (VAT) is a major morbidity in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients; however, the association between AF and VAT is unknown.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed chronic HD patients with functional vascular access between 1997 and 2006. The association between AF and the development of VAT was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression.

Results: A total of 568 chronic HD patients, including 55 (9.7%) patients with AF, were reviewed and 154 (27.1%) patients developed at least one episode of VAT. Patients with AF had worse VAT-free survival than patients without AF (p< 0.001). In Cox regression, age, type of vascular access, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, hypertension, and C-reactive protein were independently linked to the development of VAT ( p= 0.049, < 0.001, < 0.001, 0.001, 0.028 and 0.045). The hazard ratios were 2.1 (95% CI: 1.00-1.03) for arteriovenous graft, 2.47 (95% CI: 1.66-3.69) for AF, 1.72 (95% CI: 1.25-2.39) for diabetes and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.00-1.18) for serum C-reactive protein (every 1 mg/dL increase), respectively.

Conclusion: Atrial fibrillaiton is linked to the development of vascular access thrombosis in chronic hemodialysis patients and is independent of traditional VAT risk factors.