We analyzed data from 4 nationwide prospective registries of consecutive patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) admitted to the Italian Intensive Cardiac Care Unit network between 2005 and 2014. Out of 26 315 patients with ACS enrolled, 13 073 (49.7%) presented a diagnosis of non-ST elevation (NSTE)-ACS and had creatinine levels available at hospital admission: 1207 (9.2%) had severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] <30), 3803 (29.1%) mild to moderate CKD (eGFR 31-59), and 8063 (61.7%) no CKD (eGFR > 60 mL/min/1.73 m2). Patients with severe CKD had worse clinical characteristics compared with those with mild-moderate or no kidney dysfunction, including all the key predictors of mortality (P < .0001) which became worse over time (all P < .0001). Over the decade of observation, a significant increase in percutaneous coronary intervention rates was observed in patients without CKD (P for trend = .0001), but not in those with any level of CKD. After corrections for significant mortality predictors, severe CKD (odds ratio, OR: 5.49; 95% CI: 3.24-9.29; P < .0001) and mild-moderate CKD (OR: 2.33; 95% CI: 1.52-3.59; P < .0001) remained strongly associated with higher in-hospital mortality. The clinical characteristics of patients with NSTE-ACS and CKD remain challenging and their mortality rate is still higher compared with patients without CKD.
Keywords: estimated glomerular filtration rate; kidney dysfunction; myocardial infarction; non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes; percutaneous coronary intervention; registries.