Is the measurement of tissue advanced glycosylation products by skin autofluorescence associated with mortality in patients treated by peritoneal dialysis?

Background Advanced glycosylated end-products (AGEs) have been shown to cause cardiovascular disease, and tissue AGE accumulation can be measured by skin autofluorescence (SAF). AGEs are cleared by the kidney, and thus accumulate in dialysis patients. However, as the results of SAF measurements in peritoneal dialysis patients (PD) have been ambiguous, we examined the association between mortality and SAF. Methods We reviewed SAF measurements in PD patients attending a university associated PD program, along with standard measurements of dialysis adequacy and peritoneal membrane function. Results We studied 341 prevalent PD patients, 61.9% male, mean age 61.2 ± 16 years, and 31.4% of all patients died during a median follow-up of 27.2 (23.3–36.3) months. Patients who died were older, mean age 72 ± 10.5 years, were more often diabetic (60.7%), and had higher median SAF 3.8 (3.2–4.5) AU. On logistic regression, mortality was independently associated with age (odds ratio (OR) 1.1 (95% confidence limits 1.06–1.16), diabetes OR 10.1 (3.1–33.4), SAF OR 3.3 (1.8–6.2), all p < 0.001, and male gender OR 5.2 (1.6–17.4), p = 0.007; and negatively associated with weight OR 0.91 (0.86–0.95), p < 0..001, normalised nitrogen appearance rate (nPNA) OR 0.05 (0.01–0.4), p = 0.005 and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) OR 0.96 (0.93–0.96), p = 0.03. Conclusions In this observational study, SAF was independently associated with mortality. However, other factors were also associated with mortality, including age, diabetes and malnutrition which have all been reported to affect SAF measurements. Thus, the additional predictive value of measuring SAF compared to standard risk factors for mortality remains to be determined. Graphical abstract