Pulmonary Hypertension in Hemodialysis Patients and Its Determinants: A Hospital Based Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a serious complication in hemodialysis patients, which is associated with a significantly increased risk of morbidity and mortality. The present study aims to investigate PH frequency and associated factors in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis.
Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the hemodialysis department of the Shandong Provincial Third Hospital, China, from January 2016 to December 2022. A total of 167 consecutive patients who underwent regular hemodialysis treatment for at least three months were included in the study. Patients with a systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) value > 35 mmHg at rest were considered to have PH. The relationship between PH and various demographic, laboratory, and echocardiographic parameters was evaluated.
Results: A total of 93 patients (55.7%) were diagnosed with PH. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that low serum levels of albumin (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82– 0.98, p = 0.017), low serum levels of triglycerides (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.15– 0.69, p = 0.003), and high right atrial diameter (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.04– 1.37, p = 0.011) were significantly associated with an increased risk of PH.
Conclusion: PH is a common finding in hemodialysis patients and is independently associated with serum levels of albumin, serum levels of triglyceride, and right atrial diameter; this suggests that evaluating these non-invasive and relatively easily available parameters may be useful in identifying patients with a high risk of PH. However, further studies are required to confirm these findings.

Keywords: pulmonary hypertension, triglycerides, pulmonary artery, renal dialysis, echocardiography, albumins