Association between ACEI/ARB and short-term prognosis in dialysis patients with hypertension admitted to intensive care unit

Introduction To investigate the association between angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (ACEI/ARB) and short-term prognosis in dialysis patients with hypertension admitted to intensive care unit (ICU).Methods Patients with diagnosis of hypertension and dialysis who received antihypertensive agents during hospitalization were included. Based on whether treated with ACEI/ARB, patients were divided to ACEI/ARB group and non- ACEI/ARB group. In-hospital mortality and 30-day all-cause mortality were compared between the two groups in the overall participants and after propensity score matching.Results The study included 647 patients, among which 227 (34.70%) were treated with ACEI/ARB. Compared to non-ACEI/ARB group, fewer patients in ACEI/ARB group suffered from atrial fibrillation/flutter (17.2% vs 31.9%, p < 0.001). The overall hospital mortality rate was 5.1%, and 9.0% of patients died during the 30-day follow-up period. ACEI/ARB group were with better clinical outcomes during hospitalization (2.2% vs 6.7%, p = 0.023) and after 30-day follow-up (5.3% vs 11.0%, p = 0.016). ACEI/ARB treatment was independently associated with lower risk of hospital mortality (OR 0.24, 96% CI: 0.051 - 0.82, p = 0.038) and 30-day mortality (HR 0.36, 95% CI:0.15-0.89, p = 0.029) after adjusting confounding factors. After propensity score matching (PSM, 112 pairs), the ACEI/ARB group showed higher in-hospital (99.1% vs 91.1%, p = 0.013) and 30-day (95.5% vs 88.4%, p = 0.048) survival rates compared to the control group. ACEI/ARB was identified as an independent protector for 30-day mortality in the matched cohort (HR 0.33, 95% CI: 0.11-0.95, p = 0.041).Conclusion ACEI/ARB treatment showed a significant association with improved in-hospital and 30-day outcomes in dialysis patients with hypertension in ICU.