Effect of ethnicity and socioeconomic status on vascular access provision and performance in an urban NHS hospital

The Role of Cardio-Renal Inflammation in Deciding the Fate of the Arteriovenous Fistula in Haemodialysis Therapy

Vascular access is an indispensable component of haemodialysis therapy for end-stage kidney disease patients. The arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is most common, but importantly, two-year failure rates are greater than fifty percent. AVF failure can occur due to a lack of suitable vascular remodelling, and inappropriate inflammation preventing maturation, or alternatively neointimal hyperplasia and vascular stenosis preventing long-term use. A comprehensive mechanistic understanding of these processes is still lacking, but recent studies highlight an essential role for inflammation from uraemia and the AVF itself. Inflammation affects each cell in the cascade of AVF failure, the endothelium, the infiltrating immune cells, and the vascular smooth muscle cells. This review examines the role of inflammation in each cell step by step and the influence on AVF failure. Inflammation resulting in AVF failure occurs initially via changes in endothelial cell activation, permeability, and vasoprotective chemokine secretion. Resultingly, immune cells can extravasate into the subendothelial space to release inflammatory cytokines and cause other deleterious changes to the microenvironment. Finally, all these changes modify vascular smooth muscle cell function, resulting in excessive and unchecked hyperplasia and proliferation, eventually leading to stenosis and the failure of the AVF. Finally, the emerging therapeutic options based off these findings are discussed, including mesenchymal stem cells, small-molecule inhibitors, and far-infrared therapies. Recent years have clearly demonstrated a vital role for inflammation in deciding the fate of the AVF, and future works must be centred on this to develop therapies for a hitherto unacceptably underserved patient population.

High Prevalence of Adverse Social Determinants of Health in Dialysis Access Creation Patients in a Safety-Net Setting

BACKGROUND

Patients receiving dialysis access surgery are often exposed to adverse social determinants of health (SDH) that negatively impact their care. Our goal was to characterize these factors experienced by our arteriovenous dialysis access patients and identify differences in health outcomes based on their SDH.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study of all patients who underwent dialysis access creation (2017-2021) and were screened for SDH at a clinical visit (using THRIVE survey) implemented at an urban, safety-net hospital institution within 1 year of access creation. Demographics, procedural details, early postoperative outcomes, survey responses, and referral to our hospital's preventive food pantry were recorded. Univariable analysis and multivariable analyses were performed to assess for associations with key health outcomes.

RESULTS

There were 190 patients who responded to the survey within 1 year of their operation. At least 1 adverse SDH was identified in 42 (22%) patients. Normalized to number of respondents for each question, adverse SDH identified were difficulty obtaining transportation to medical appointments (18%), food insecurity (16%), difficulty affording utilities (13%), difficulty affording medication (12%), unemployed and seeking employment (9%), unstable housing (7%), difficulty caring for family/friends (6%), and desiring more education (5%). There were 71 (37%) patients who received food pantry referrals. Mean age was 60 years and 38% of patients were female and 64% were Black. More than half of patients (57%) had a tunneled dialysis catheter (TDC) at the time of access creation. Dialysis accesses created were brachiocephalic (39%), brachiobasilic (25%), radiocephalic fistulas (16%), and arteriovenous grafts (14%). Thirty-day emergency department (ED) visits, 30-day readmissions, and 90-day mortality occurred in 23%, 21%, and 2%, respectively. On univariable and multivariable analyses, any adverse SDH determined on survey and food pantry referral were not associated with preoperative dialysis through TDCs, receiving nonautogenous dialysis access, 30-day ED visits and readmissions, or 90-day mortality.

CONCLUSION

Nearly a quarter of dialysis access surgery patients at a safety-net hospital experienced adverse SDH and more than one-third received a food pantry referral. Most common difficulties experienced include difficulty obtaining transportation to medical appointments, food insecurity, and difficulty paying for utilities and medication. Although there were no differences in postoperative outcomes, the high prevalence of these adverse SDH warrants prioritization of resources in this population to ensure healthy equity and further investigation into their effects on health outcomes.

The Impact of Frailty on the Outcomes of Hemodialysis Vascular Access

BACKGROUND

Frailty has been associated with mortality and adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with hemodialysis (HD), however the relevance of frailty on the outcomes of HD vascular access remains unclear.

METHODS

We enrolled a cohort of patients with prevalent HD between August 2018 and November 2018. The presence of 5 frailty phenotypes was determined at enrollment, using the modified Fried's criteria. Data regarding vascular access events or mortality were linked to prospectively collected data up to 24 months after enrollment.

RESULTS

Of the 382 patients screened, 313 were recruited in the final analysis. The participants' mean age was 66 years, and 42.5% were female. Among all participants, 40.3% were determined to be frail and 29.4% pre-frail. The frail phenotype was associated with age, female gender, lower body mass index, unemployment, lower education level, and higher dialysis clearance. During the follow-up period (median, 24 months), 112 patients had vascular access events (non-frail, 27.4%; pre-frail, 35.9%; frail, 46.1%; p = 0.003) and 45 patients experienced thrombosis of the vascular access (non-frail, 4.2%; pre-frail, 9.8%; frail, 18.3%; p = 0.002). Cox regression analysis showed that frail patients had a 2.2-fold higher risk of experiencing vascular access events than non-frail patients [hazard ratio (HR): 2.205, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.377-3.532, p = 0.001], but the association was not significant (HR: 1.634, 95% CI: 0.938-2.848, p = 0.082) after multivariate adjustment.

CONCLUSIONS

The frail phenotype is common in Taiwanese patients who undergo maintenance HD and is associated with adverse outcomes of dialysis vascular access.

Does wealth make health? Cherchez la renal replacement therapy

In this issue of CKJ, McQuarrie et al. have explored the relationship between socioeconomic status and outcomes among Scottish patients with a renal biopsy diagnosis of primary glomerulonephritis. Patients in the lower socioeconomic category had a twofold higher risk of death. No significant differences were observed on progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT), suggesting that overall medical management was appropriate for all socioeconomic categories. The findings are significant since they come from an ethnically homogeneous population with free access to healthcare; they also relate to a specific aetiology of chronic kidney disease (CKD) expected to be less dependent on unhealthy lifestyles than other more frequent aetiologies that dominate studies of CKD in general, such as diabetic or hypertensive nephropathy. A closer look at the data suggests that living in a high socioeconomic area is associated with lower mortality, rather than the other way round. Furthermore, the differences in mortality were most pronounced during the RRT stage of CKD, providing clues for further research. In this regard, Wilmink et al. and Nee et al. point to access to pre-ESRD nephrology care and to the best kidney transplantation options as modifiable factors to be studied in the realm of T3 translational research to improve CKD patient outcomes.