Emergency Room Visits in Patients with Left Ventricular Dysfunction Receiving Hemodialysis: A Case Control Study

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevalence in Saudi Arabia has been rising over the past few years. The risk of developing left ventricular dysfunction is high in patients with CKD on hemodialysis. Our aim is to study the frequency of emergency room visits and the length of ER stay in patients LVD on hemodialysis. Methods: All patients who were on hemodialysis between the period of January 2011 and November 2016 were included in our study. Patients’ demographic, medical and laboratory data were extracted for all patients. Patients were classified into three groups according to their ejection fraction (EF<40%, EF= 40-49% and EF≥50%). Descriptive statistics were done for all variables. Logistic regression was used to assess the outcome while adjusting for confounder. Results: Analysis included 333 patients. Two-hundred and fifty seven patients had an EF ³50% and 36 patients with EF 40-49% and 40 patients with EF <40 %. Age was significantly higher in patients with EF<50% compared to patients with EF ³50% (P=0.002). Comorbidities were more prevalnt in patients with EF<40% and EF 40-49%. Number of ER visits and length of stay were significantly different between the three groups (P=0.005, P=0.023) ICU admissions shows a statistically significant diffrence between the three groups (P=0.013). Conclusion: Patients with low EF on hemodialysis have a higher rate of ER visits and length of stay in ER when compared to patients with EF≥50.