Evaluation of Electrocardiographic Parameters Predicting Cardiovascular Events in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease before and after Transplantation

Background and objectives: Cardiovascular (CV) mortality represents the leading cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Efficient screening is required to detect CV disease at an early stage, but the best diagnostic work-up is uncertain. The aim of this study was to identify electrocardiographic parameters in dialysis patients associated with an increased frequency of CV events.

Methods: A 12-lead electrocardiogram was performed in 139 patients who were on the renal transplant waiting list and who subsequently received a kidney transplant. CV events were analyzed from the day of listing for kidney transplantation until 1 year after renal transplantation.

Results: Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that an elevated T:R ratio in anterior and inferior leads was independently associated with CV events (T:R ratio of anterior leads hazard ratio [HR] 1.32 [95% CI 1.09-1.59; p = 0.004] and inferior leads HR 2.15 [95% CI 1.23-3.77; p = 0.008]). In particular, a T:R ratio in inferior leads exceeding 0.6 was associated with CV events in a Kaplan-Meier analysis.

Conclusions: Taken together, we found an increased T:R ratio in ESRD patients to be a predictive marker for CV events.