Acute kidney injury in acute decompensated heart failure related cardiogenic shock: data from the Alt-Shock2 registry

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements None. Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common complications in patients with cardiogenic shock (CS), proving the strict relationship between heart and kidney (the so-called cardio-renal syndrome). AKI is a marker of shock severity, but also independently associated with worse outcomes. Purpose Many data are available on the prevalence of AKI in acute heart failure, but very few studies assessed the role of AKI in CS and they were mainly focused on acute myocardial infarction (AMI)-related CS. Aim of our study was to analyze the impact of AKI on acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF)-CS. Methods Between March 2020 and August 2022, we prospectively enrolled 375 CS patients from a Cardiac Intensive Care Units Network of 12 centers. Among these patients 121 (33.9% of the whole cohort) with ADHF-CS were included for the present analysis. AKI was defined according to KDIGO 2012 criteria as serum creatinine increase ≥ 0.3 mg/dl or 1.5 times compared to admission value, or urinary output < 0.5 ml/kg/h. Results Table 1 shows the baseline characteristics of the cohort. Patients with AKI were older (70 years old [55.5; 76] vs 61 [54; 69], p<0.05), had more comorbidities and a worse CS profile on admission. On multivariable analysis, SCAI stage D-E on admission was independently associated with a higher risk of AKI 24 hours after admission (OR 5.54 and p = 0.01). Treatment with mechanical circulatory support did not prevent AKI (OR 0.84 and p = 0.8). Notably, patients with a greater reduction in central venous pressure (CVP) 24 hours after admission had a lower risk of AKI (deltaCVP in AKI group 0 [-3;0] versus deltaCVP in no-AKI group -3 [-6;0], p = 0.025). Kaplan-Meier curves showed significantly worse survival in patients with AKI (Figure 1A). Cox regression analysis confirmed an association between AKI and increased risk of death (HR 2.14, CI 95% 1.16-3.96, p = 0.01). Notably, this association was even more pronounced in patients with SCAI stages A-B-C (HR 2.81, CI 95% 1.30-6.09, p = 0.01). Finally, in patients treated with renal replacement therapy (RRT) there was no association with lower survival at 180-days follow up (Figure 1B). Conclusions Our study confirms that AKI is a predictor of adverse outcomes in patients with ADHF-CS. Effective decongestion 24 hours after admission was associated with a lower risk of AKI. Considering that AKI had a negative impact even at lower SCAI stages, our findings underscore the importance of early identification of renal injury to promptly target decongestion with pharmacologic therapy and, ultimately, early use of RRT.