Rosiglitazone is associated with mortality in chronic hemodialysis patients

J Am Soc Nephrol. 2009 May;20(5):1094-101. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2008060579. Epub 2009 Apr 8.

Abstract

Recent studies have associated rosiglitazone, a thiazolidinedione drug, with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in the general population with diabetes. Using data from the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study in the United States, we examined cardiovascular hospitalization and mortality associated with prescription of rosiglitazone, compared with other oral hypoglycemic agents, among 2393 long-term hemodialysis patients who were followed for a median of 1.1 yr. We assessed mortality risk using Cox models in patient-level and dialysis facility-level analyses that used the facility proportion of patients on rosiglitazone as the predictor (instrumental variable approach) and adjusted the models for demographics, comorbid conditions, laboratory values, and achieved dialysis dosage. Compared with patients prescribed other oral hypoglycemic agents, patients prescribed rosiglitazone had significantly higher all-cause (hazard ratio [HR] 1.38; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05 to 1.82) and cardiovascular (HR 1.59; 95% CI 1.14 to 2.22) mortality, and their adjusted HR for hospitalization with myocardial infarction was 3.5-fold higher (P = 0.02). We did not observe similar associations in a secondary analysis evaluating pioglitazone. By the instrumental variable approach, facilities with more than the median adjusted percentage (6.2%) of patients who had diabetes and were prescribed rosiglitazone had significantly higher all-cause mortality (HR 1.36; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.62) and cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.42; 95% CI 1.07 to 1.88) than facilities with less than the median expected percentage prescribed rosiglitazone. Our practice-based findings suggest significant associations of rosiglitazone use with higher cardiovascular and all-cause mortality among hemodialysis patients with diabetes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / mortality
  • Diabetic Angiopathies / mortality
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / drug therapy
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / mortality
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / therapy*
  • Female
  • Hospitalization / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Hypoglycemic Agents / toxicity*
  • Kidney Failure, Chronic / mortality
  • Kidney Failure, Chronic / therapy*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Renal Dialysis / mortality*
  • Rosiglitazone
  • Thiazolidinediones / toxicity*

Substances

  • Hypoglycemic Agents
  • Thiazolidinediones
  • Rosiglitazone