Haemodialysis catheters increase mortality as compared to arteriovenous accesses especially in elderly patients.

BACKGROUND: Catheter use has been associated with an increased mortality risk in haemodialysis patients. However, differences in the all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk between catheter use and arteriovenous access use in young and elderly haemodialysis patients have not yet been investigated. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study of 1109 incident haemodialysis patients from 38 centres in the Netherlands, hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated for 2-year all-cause, infection-related and cardiovascular mortality in patients with a catheter as compared to patients with an arteriovenous access stratified for age (<65 years and >/=65 years). RESULTS: Of the 1109 patients, 919 had an arteriovenous access and 190 had a catheter. The mortality rate was 76 per 1000 person-years in young patients with an arteriovenous access, 129 per 1000 person-years in young patients with a catheter, 222 per 1000 person-years in elderly patients with an arteriovenous access and 427 per 1000 person-years in elderly patients with a catheter. The adjusted HR was 3.15 (95% CI: 2.09-4.75) for elderly patients with a catheter as compared to young patients with an arteriovenous access. The adjusted HRs in elderly patients with a catheter as compared to elderly patients with an arteriovenous access were 1.54 (95% CI: 1.13-2.12) for all-cause mortality, 1.60 (95%: CI 0.62-4.19) for infection-related mortality and 1.67 (95% CI: 1.04-2.68) for cardiovascular mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Especially, elderly haemodialysis patients with a catheter have an increased all-cause, infection-related and cardiovascular mortality risk as compared to patients with an arteriovenous access