BMJ Open. 2026 Feb 15;16(2):e107969. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-107969.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To assess the incidence and risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with different stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in Taiwan.
DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.
SETTING: Secondary and tertiary care; data were collected from three affiliated hospitals in northern Taiwan.
PARTICIPANTS: A total of 7038 adult patients with clinically confirmed CKD stages 3-5 were included, of whom 14.09% had progressed to ESKD. Patients were identified from a multicentre database in northern Taiwan. Key exclusion criteria included age under 20 years, prior MACE, cancer or renal transplantation.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the incidence of MACE during follow-up. Secondary analyses included time to MACE and subgroup comparisons by CKD stage and comorbid conditions (eg, diabetes, cardiovascular disease).
RESULTS: MACE occurred in 49.8% of patients with CKD and 64.1% of those with ESKD. After adjustment for covariates, the ESKD group had a significantly higher risk of MACE (HR=1.52; 95% CI 1.08 to 2.16) compared with the non-ESKD group. Relative to stage 3a, the adjusted HRs for MACE were 1.13 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.73) for stage 3b, 1.13 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.70) for stage 4, 1.82 (95% CI 1.18 to 2.81) for stage 5 (non-ESKD) and 2.32 (95% CI 1.51 to 3.57) for stage 5D (ESKD). Diabetes and cardiovascular comorbidities were associated with increased MACE incidence and shorter time to MACE, but their associations became non-significant after adjustment.
CONCLUSIONS: Based on a multicentre cohort from Taiwan, our findings provide insights into the prognosis of patients with CKD across disease stages and highlight the importance of targeted interventions and integrated care to improve cardiovascular outcomes.
PMID:41692518 | DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2025-107969