Elevated E/E' Predicts Cardiovascular Events in Hemodialysis Patients with Preserved Systolic Function

OBJECTIVE: We conducted a cohort study to investigate whether diastolic function could predict cardiovascular (CV) events in 161 HD patients with preserved systolic function. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The ratio of early transmitral flow velocity to early mitral annular velocity (E/E') was measured by tissue Doppler imaging. Patients were stratified into two groups based on whether they experienced a CV event. RESULTS: During a 4-year follow-up period, 64 patients experienced a CV event. The E/E' values (15.18 ± 5.78) in the CV-event group were significantly higher than in the group who had not experienced a CV event (12.32 ± 4.23). Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that the incidence of CV events was significantly higher in the group of patients whose E/E' was >15 than in the group whose E/E' was ≤ 15 (log-rank p=0.0016). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed the E/E' ratio to be a significant predictor of CV events in HD patients with preserved LV systolic function. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that elevated E/E' ratio in chronic HD patients predicts CV events better than other echocardiographic parameters.