Recovery time is associated with the onset of cardiovascular disease in Japanese patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (HD), with various reported risk factors. Recovery time (RT) is a valuable indicator of post-dialysis fatigue. However, the association between RT and the onset of CVD remains unexplored. As such, this study aimed to determine the effect of RT on the onset of CVD.

Methods: Data from 620 patients undergoing maintenance HD at Yabuki Hospital and 3 related facilities (Yamagata Prefecture, Japan) as of December 31, 2020, were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were asked to respond to the question "How long does it take you to recover from a dialysis session?"; the response was defined as RT. The analysis was performed by categorizing patients into 2 groups according to RT: short RT (< 2 h); and long RT (≥ 2 h). The primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Secondary outcomes included all-cause death and hospitalization.

Results: During the 24-month follow-up, 70 (11.3%) patients developed MACE. The long RT group exhibited a higher incidence of MACE; multivariate analysis revealed that age and long RT were associated with the onset of MACE. All-cause death was observed in 45 (7.3%) patients, with no significant difference between the 2 groups. Hospitalization occurred in 252 (40.6%) patients and was more frequent in the long RT group. Multivariate analysis revealed that age, sex, duration of HD, intact parathyroid hormone level, and long RT were associated with hospitalization.

Conclusion: Long RT was an independent risk factor for the onset of CVD.