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(Circulation. 2004;109:2266-2268.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Brief Rapid Communications

Relaxin Is an Independent Risk Factor Predicting Death in Male Patients With End-Stage Kidney Disease

Berthold Hocher, MD; Reinhard Ziebig, PhD; Rolfdieter Krause, MD; Gernot Asmus, MD; Hans -H Neumayer, MD; Lutz Liefeldt, MD; Johannes-Peter Stasch, PhD

From the Center for Cardiovascular Research, Departments of Nephrology (B.H., H.-H.N., L.L.) and Laboratory Medicine (R.Z.), Charité, Berlin, Germany; KfH Dialysezentrum, Moabit, Berlin, Germany (R.K.); KfH Dialysezentrum Sonnenallee, Berlin, Germany (G.A.); and Institute of Cardiovascular Research (J.-P.S.), Bayer AG, Wuppertal, Germany.

Correspondence to Priv Doz Dr Berthold Hocher, Humboldt University of Berlin, University Hospital Charité, Center for Cardiovascular Research, Hessischestr 3-4, D-10115 Berlin, Germany. E-mail berthold.hocher{at}charite.de

Received March 4, 2004; de novo received February 11, 2004; revision received March 25, 2004; accepted March 31, 2004

Background— Patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) have a reduced life expectancy mainly as the result of cardiovascular diseases. Relaxin has been implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. We analyzed the impact of relaxin on death in patients with ESKD.

Methods and Results— Patients (n =245; 122 women, 123 men) on long-term hemodialysis were followed for 1140 days for death. Blood samples for analysis of relaxin, C-reactive protein, Troponin T, cholesterol, HDL, brain natriuretic peptide, and albumin were taken at study entry. Survival was compared by the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis. One hundred seven patients died during the observation period; 66 died of cardiovascular diseases and 28 died of infectious diseases. Elevated serum relaxin concentrations (greater than median) predicted death in male but not in female patients with ESKD: All-cause death (men: relative risk, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.34 to 5.12; P=0.005; women: relative risk, 0.671; 95% CI, 0.33 to 1.35; P=0.262) and cardiovascular death (men: relative risk, 2.95; 95% CI, 1.20 to 7.21; P=0.018; women: relative risk, 0.639; 95% CI, 0.26 to 1.56; P=0.324).

Conclusions— Relaxin is an independent risk factor predicting death in male patients with ESKD on chronic hemodialysis.

Key Words: cardiovascular diseases • kidney • risk factors • mortality

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