Metabolic syndrome predicts hospitalization in hemodialysis patients: A prospective Asian cohort study

Background/Aims: Metabolic syndrome (MS) increases morbidity and mortality in the general population. The effects of individual components of MS differ in hemodialysis (HD) patients, but the composite effects of MS in this population are unknown. Methods: We performed a prospective, cohort study including 235 HD patients who were followed up for 3 years. We used modified Asian criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) to define the presence of MS, and compared the hospitalizations and deaths in patients with and without MS. Results: Patients with MS had a lower hospitalization-free ratio, greater annual hospitalization days and frequency than those without MS. The relative risk of the presence of MS was 1.669 in predicting first hospitalization for all causes. Conclusion: The modified Asian criteria for MS successfully predicted the risk of hospitalization as compared with NCEP ATP III criteria in HD patients. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.