Predictors of Arrhythmic and Cardiovascular Risk in End Stage Renal Disease


Overview: PACE was a prospective cohort study that enrolled 568 persons with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) initiating hemodialysis. Participants were recruited in Baltimore and the surrounding area (U.S.) from November 2008 to August 2012. In addition to complete baseline evaluations, participants were actively followed for up to four years during which time data from clinic and phone questionnaires, study visits, cardiovascular assessments, and biological specimens were collected. Recently, data from these participants were linked with the United States Renal Data System to obtain long-term outcomes.

 

Objectives: The primary objectives of this study were to identify the rate of sudden cardiac death among adults initiating hemodialysis and to determine risk factors associated with arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

 

Progress: Data collection was completed in 2016 and linkage with the United States Renal Data System was established in 2018. To date, the study has identified a number of risk factors for sudden cardiac death including spatial QRS-T angle and abdominal obesity.

PACE Project Logo.

Co-Investigators

Dr. Bernard G. Jaar is an assistant professor in the School of Medicine and the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include outcome studies of peripheral arterial disease among end stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients and morbidity and mortality of individuals with ESKD by dialysis modality.

 

Dr. Stephen M. Sozio is an associate professor in the School of Medicine and the Associate Director of the Nephrology Fellowship Program at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include chronic kidney disease epidemiology, arterial stiffness and calcification as risk factors for stroke and cognitive impairment in patients with kidney disease, and medical education.

 

Dr. Michelle M. Estrella is an associate professor in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research interests include developing strategies to reduce the risk of chronic kidney disease development and progression among HIV-infected individuals and minority groups.

 

Dr. Larisa G. Tereshchenko is an associate professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine in the School of Medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University. Her research interests include novel methods of ECG analyses and development of ECG risk scores for sudden cardiac death.

 

Dr. Jose Monroy-Trujillo is an assistant professor in the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. His area of clinical expertise is nephrology.

Collaborators

Dr. Wei Chen is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her research interests include disorders of metabolism and biomarker development for vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease.

 

Dr. Teresa Chen is an assistant professor in the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include chronic kidney disease epidemiology and genetic risk factors for chronic kidney disease and outcomes.

 

Dr. Mark Mitsnefes is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati and the Director of the Clinical and Translational Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. His research interests include cardiovascular complications of chronic kidney disease and clinical trials in hypertension.

Select PACE Publications: