Dietary Potassium Intake and All-Cause Mortality in Adults Treated with Hemodialysis

Background and objectives: Dietary potassium restriction in people receiving maintenance hemodialysis is standard practice and is recommended in guidelines, despite a lack of evidence. We aimed to assess the association between dietary potassium intake and mortality and whether hyperkalemia mediates this association.

Design, setting, participants, & measurements: A total of 8043 adults undergoing maintenance hemodialysis in Europe and South America were included in the DIETary intake, death and hospitalization in adults with end-stage kidney disease treated with HemoDialysis (DIET-HD) study. We measured baseline potassium intake from the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network food frequency questionnaire and performed time-to-event and mediation analyses.

Results: The median potassium intake at baseline was 3.5 (interquartile range, 2.5-5.0) g/d. During a median follow-up of 4.0 years (25,890 person-years), we observed 2921 (36%) deaths. After adjusting for baseline characteristics, including cardiac disease and food groups, dietary potassium intake was not associated with all-cause mortality (per 1 g/d higher dietary potassium intake: hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.95 to 1.05). A mediation analysis showed no association of potassium intake with mortality, either through or independent of serum potassium (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.00 and hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.06, respectively). Potassium intake was not significantly associated with serum levels (0.03; 95% CI, -0.01 to 0.07 mEq/L per 1 g/d higher dietary potassium intake) or the prevalence of hyperkalemia (≥6.0 mEq/L) at baseline (odds ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.37 per 1 g/d higher dietary potassium intake). Hyperkalemia was associated with cardiovascular death (hazard ratio, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.48).

Conclusions: Higher dietary intake of potassium is not associated with hyperkalemia or death in patients treated with hemodialysis.