Effect of New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus on Renal Outcomes and Mortality in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

A review of the use of propensity score methods with multiple treatment groups in the general internal medicine literature

BACKGROUND

Propensity score (PS) methods with two treatment groups (e.g., treated vs. control) is a well-established technique for reducing the effects of confounding in nonrandomized studies. However, researchers are often interested in comparing multiple interventions. PS methods have been modified to incorporate multiple exposures. We described available techniques for PS methods in multicategory exposures (≥3 groups) and examined their use in the medical literature.

METHODS

A comprehensive search was conducted for studies published in PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, and Web of Science until February 27, 2023. We included studies using PS methods for multiple groups in general internal medicine research.

RESULTS

The literature search yielded 4088 studies (2616 from PubMed, 86 from Embase, 85 from Google Scholar, 1671 from Web of Science, five from other sources). In total, 264 studies using PS method for multiple groups were identified; 61 studies were on general internal medicine topics and included. The most commonly used method was that of McCaffrey et al., which was used in 26 studies (43%), where the Toolkit for Weighting and Analysis of Nonequivalent Groups (TWANG) method and corresponding inverse probabilities of treatment weights were estimated via generalized boosted models. The next most commonly used method was pairwise propensity-matched comparisons, which was used in 20 studies (33%). The method by Imbens et al. using a generalized propensity score was implemented in six studies (10%). Four studies (7%) used a conditional probability of being in a particular group given a set of observed baseline covariates where a multiple propensity score was estimated using a non-parsimonious multinomial logistic regression model. Four studies (7%) used a technique that estimates generalized propensity scores and then creates 1:1:1 matched sets, and one study (2%) used the matching weight method.

CONCLUSIONS

Many propensity score methods for multiple groups have been adopted in the literature. The TWANG method is the most commonly used method in the general medical literature.

LASSO-derived nomogram predicting new-onset diabetes mellitus in patients with kidney disease receiving immunosuppressive drugs

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE

Patients with kidney disease receiving immunosuppressive drugs (ISDs) (tacrolimus, cyclosporine and glucocorticoids) have a high risk of developing new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM). We aimed to establish a precise and convenient model for predicting NODM in patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs.

METHODS

This retrospective study recruited 1883 patients receiving ISDs between January 2010 and October 2018. The occurrence of NODM was the primary endpoint. The patients were randomly divided into training (n = 1318) and validation cohorts (n = 565) at a 7:3 ratio. A nomogram was established based on a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)-derived logistic regression model. The nomogram's discrimination and calibration abilities were evaluated in both cohorts using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test and calibration curves. Decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to evaluate the net benefit of the predictive efficacy.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Amongst the 1883 patients with kidney disease receiving immunosuppressive drugs, 375 (28.5%) and 169 (29.9%) developed NODM in the training (n = 1318) and validation cohorts (n = 565), respectively. Nine clinic predictors were included in this LASSO-derived nomogram, which is easy to be operated clinically. The discriminative ability, determined by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), was 0.816 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.790-0.841) and 0.831 (95%CI 0.796-0.867) in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. Calibration was confirmed with the Hosmer-Lemeshow test in the training and validation cohorts (p = 0.238, p = 0.751, respectively).

WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION

Nearly one-third of patients with kidney disease receiving immunosuppressive drugs developed NODM. The nomogram established in this study may aid in predicting the occurrence of NODM in patients with kidney disease receiving immunosuppressive drugs.

The Risk of Nephropathy, Retinopathy, and Leg Amputation in Patients With Diabetes and Hypertension: A Nationwide, Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study

Purpose

To compare the risks of chronic kidney disease (CKD), end-stage renal disease (ESRD), sight-threatening retinopathy, and leg amputation between patients with diabetes or hypertension.

Methods

From January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2015, we identified 28943 matched pairs of patients with diabetes with and without subsequent hypertension, 89102 pairs of patients with hypertension with and without subsequent diabetes, and 145294 pairs of patients with coexisting diabetes and hypertension with a previous history of diabetes or hypertension from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. Cox proportional-hazard models were used for calculating the risks of CKD, sight-threatening retinopathy, and leg amputation.

Results

The mean follow-up time of this study in different cohorts was between 3.59 and 4.28 years. In diabetes patients with vs. without subsequent hypertension, hypertension patients with vs. without subsequent diabetes, and comorbid diabetes and hypertension patients with previous diabetes vs. with previous hypertension, the adjusted HRs (95% CIs) for CKD were 2.77 (2.61-2.94), 1.73 (1.68-1.77), and 1.04 (1.02-1.07); for ESRD were 42.38 (22.62-79.4), 2.76 (2.43-3.13), and 0.72 (0.66-0.79); for sight-threatening retinopathy were 2.07 (1.85-2.3), 3.41 (3.14-3.71), and for leg amputation were 1.51 (1.43-1.58); and 4.74 (3.02-7.43), 6.27(4.72-8.31), and 1.19(1.03-1.38).

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that both diabetes and hypertension are risk factors for the development of CKD, retinopathy, and amputation. Tracing subsequent diabetes for patients with hypertension, and hypertension for patients with diabetes are important in clinical settings.

A bibliometric analysis of income and cardiovascular disease: Status, Hotspots, Trends and Outlook

BACKGROUND

Income is 1 of the socio-economic indicators and could directly influence the health outcomes of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The relationship between income and CVD has attracted more and more scholars' attention in the past 20 years.

METHODS

To study the current research dynamics of this field, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to evaluate the publications from 1990 to 2018 based on the Science Citation Index Expanded database. By using the Derwent Date Analyzer software, the following aspects were explored: RESULTS:: The USA ranked first in this field, followed by UK and Canada in terms of number of publications. As for institutions, Harvard University took the leading place in the number of publications, as well as the h-index. Plos One had the most publications and "health" was the most frequent used keyword. The leading research area was "public environmental occupational health".

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, the elderly, the children and the puerpera were the main study population in this field and "disease prevention" was the main study direction. The most concerned health issues in this field were "obesity" and "diet". There might be a lack of articles that explore the associations between income and CVD with a global perspective. Articles on this content are urgently warranted.

The CHA2DS2-VASc score predicts chronic kidney disease among patients with atrial fibrillation

BACKGROUND

It is unclear how the CHA2DS2-VASc score can predict subsequent chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among atrial fibrillation (AF) patients.

METHODS

We identified incident AF patients without CKD between 2000 and 2013 from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan and calculated the CHA₂DS₂-VASc score for each patient. Adjusted hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was estimated from multivariate cause-specific Cox models to assess the risk of CKD and ESRD associated with the CHA₂DS₂-VASc score.

RESULTS

A total of 8764 participants with AF who did not have CKD were included in the analysis. The mean age was 69.63 ± 13.48 years and 4800 (54.8%) were males. The adjusted HR of CKD displayed a stepwise increase with the increase in the CHA₂DS₂-VASc score. When compared with those with a CHA₂DS₂-VASc score of 0, the adjusted HRs of CKD were 1.57 (95% CI 1.09-2.26), 2.04 (95% CI 1.42-2.94), 2.48 (95% CI 1.70-3.62), 2.88 (95% CI 1.95-4.26), 3.29 (95% CI 2.18-4.95) and 4.00 (95% CI 2.61-6.13) for the AF patients with a CHA₂DS₂-VASc score of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and ≥ 6, respectively. Similarly, as the CHA₂DS₂-VASc score increased, the adjusted HR of ESRD showed a gradual increase.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with a higher CHA₂DS₂-VASc score were linked to a higher risk of CKD and ESRD in a dose-dependent effect, i.e. the incidence of CKD/ESRD increased with the increasing CHA₂DS₂-VASc score.

Chronic Kidney Disease Has a Graded Association with Death and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Stable Coronary Artery Disease: An Analysis of 21,911 Patients from the CLARIFY Registry

: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk in a broad spectrum of populations. However, the risk associated with a reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in patients with stable coronary artery disease receiving standard care in the modern era, independently of baseline cardiovascular disease, risk factors, and comorbidities, remains unclear. We analyzed data from 21,911 patients with stable coronary artery disease, enrolled in 45 countries between November 2009 and July 2010 in the CLARIFY registry. Patients with abnormal renal function were older, with more comorbidities, and received slightly lower-although overall high-rates of evidence-based secondary prevention therapies than patients with normal renal function. The event rate of patients with CKD stage 3b or more (eGFR <45 mL/min/1.73 m2) was much higher than that associated with any comorbid condition. In a multivariable adjusted Cox proportional hazards model, lower eGFR was independently associated with a graded increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, with adjusted HRs (95% CI) of 0.98 (0.81-1.18), 1.31 (1.05-1.63), 1.77 (1.38-2.27), and 3.12 (2.25-4.33) for eGFR 60-89, 45-59, 30-44, and <30 mL/min/1.73 m2, compared with eGFR ≥90 mL/min/1.73 m2. A strong graded independent relationship exists between the degree of CKD and cardiovascular mortality in this large cohort of patients with chronic coronary artery disease, despite high rates of secondary prevention therapies. Among clinical risk factors and comorbid conditions, CKD stage 3b or more is associated with the highest cardiovascular mortality.

Effects of Prevalent and Incident Atrial Fibrillation on Renal Outcome, Cardiovascular Events, and Mortality in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

BACKGROUND

Little is known about how incident atrial fibrillation (AF) affects the clinical outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and whether there is a different influence between pre-existing and incident AF.

METHODS

Incident CKD patients from 2000 to 2013 were retrieved from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan and they were classified as non-AF (n = 15,251), prevalent AF (n = 612), and incident AF (n = 588). The outcomes of interest were end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring dialysis, all-cause mortality, cardiovascular (CV) mortality, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke or systemic thromboembolism.

RESULTS

Compared with CKD patients without AF, those with prevalent or incident AF were associated with higher adjusted rates of ESRD (hazard ratio (HR), 1.40; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.32-1.48; HR, 2.91; 95% CI, 2.74-3.09, respectively), stroke or systemic thromboembolism (HR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.77-2.03; HR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.54-1.81, respectively), AMI (HR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.09-1.41; HR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.75-2.27, respectively), all-cause mortality (HR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.56-1.72; HR, 2.17; 95% CI, 2.06-2.29, respectively), and CV mortality (HR, 2.95; 95% CI, 2.62-3.32; HR, 4.61; 95% CI, 4.09-5.20, respectively). Intriguingly, CKD patients with prevalent AF were associated with lower adjusted rates of ESRD, AMI, all-cause mortality, and CV mortality compared with those with incident AF.

CONCLUSION

Both incident and prevalent AF were independently associated with greater risks of AMI, all-cause mortality, CV mortality, ESRD, and stroke or systemic thromboembolism. Our findings are novel in that, compared with prevalent AF, incident AF possessed an even higher risk of some clinical consequences, including ESRD, all-cause mortality, CV mortality, and AMI.

Effects of Prevalent and Incident Chronic Kidney Disease on Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a well-known complication of atrial fibrillation (AF) but how the incident CKD affects the clinical outcomes amongst AF patients is not clear. Methods: Our study data were retrieved from National Health Insurance Research Data for the period from 1996 to 2013. Incident AF patients were classified as non-CKD group (n = 7272), prevalent CKD group (n = 2104), and incident CKD group (n = 1507) based on administrative codes. Patients with prevalent CKD were those participants who already had CKD ahead of the index date of AF, whereas patients with incident CKD were those who developed CKD after the index date and the remaining patients were designated as non-CKD. Multivariate-adjusted time-dependent Cox models were conducted to estimate the associations of CKD status with the outcomes of interest, including heart failure (HF), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke or systemic thromboembolism, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular (CV) mortality, expressed as hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: The mean age was 70.8 ± 13.3 years, and 55.4% of the studied population were men. In Cox models, the adjusted rate of HF, AMI, all-cause mortality, and CV mortality was greater in the prevalent and incident CKD groups, ranging from 1.31-fold to 4.28-fold, compared with non-CKD group. Notably, incident CKD was associated with higher rates of HF (HR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.67–1.93), stroke or systemic thromboembolism (HR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.22–1.45), AMI (HR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.25–1.71), all-cause mortality (HR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.68–1.85), and CV mortality (HR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.92–2.36) compared with prevalent CKD. Conclusion: The presence of CKD was associated with higher risks of subsequent adverse clinical outcomes in patients with AF. Our study was even highlighted by the finding that incident CKD was linked to higher risks of outcome events compared with prevalent CKD.