Association of inflammatory cytokines with mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Aims: Previous study on association between pro-inflammatory cytokines and mortality in PD population is limited. We aimed to investigate here. Methods: Total 50 patients who underwent incident PD were enrolled in this study. We measured the titers of pro-inflammatory cytokines Interleukin-18(IL-18), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta). Study outcomes were all-cause mortality, cardiovascular-related mortality, and infection-caused mortality. Cox-regression model was used. Results: In this 7 year prospective study, IL-18 >= 804.3pg/ml, IL-6 >= 3.92 pg/ml, IL-1 beta >= 0.86pg/ml, age >= 50 years-old, and existence of diabetes could be used as individual significant predictors for mortality in PD patients. Higher titers of IL-6 were associated with lower averaging albumin levels within 1st year of PD. Increasing numbers of these risk markers of mortality was associated with decreasing survival advantages (P = 0.001). Conclusion: Age >= 50 years-old, diabetes, and inflammatory cytokines profiles at the start of PD therapy could predict for 7-year mortality in PD population.