Risk factors and prevalence of cardiac diseases in Egyptian pediatric patients with end-stage renal disease on regular hemodialysis.

Cardiac disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The aim of this work was to study the risk factors and prevalence of cardiac diseases in Egyptian pediatric patients with ESRD under regular hemodialysis (HD). Sixty-six children with ESRD on regular HD were included and subjected to history, clinical, laboratory, chest X-rays (CXR), ECG, and two-dimensional echocardiographic study to measure different echocardiographic parameters focusing on the left ventricular ejection fraction. Ninety-two percent of the patients had a cardiovascular risk factor (62.1% hypertension, 37.9% anemia, 12.1% body mass index >95th percentile, 63% serum phosphorus >5.5 mg/dL, and 57.5% calcium-phosphorus product ≥55 mg2/dL2). A diagnosis of cardiac disease was reported in 16 (24.2%) of all studied patients, the diagnostic methods used were CXR in 39 (59 %), echocardiograms in 23 (34.8%), and electrocardiograms in 21 (31.8%), left ventricular hypertrophy/ enlargement was reported in 12 (75%) of cardiac patients, congestive heart failure/pulmonary edema in 11 (68.8%) of cardiac patients, cardiomyopathy in one (6.3%) of cardiac patients and decreased left ventricular function in one (6.3%) of cardiac patients. Ninety-two percent of patients had cardiovascular risk factors. Diagnosis of cardiac disease was reported in about a quarter of all studied patients. An echocardiography reported the left ventricular dysfunction in 12 (75%) of cardiac dialysis patients. The present study stresses the importance of echocardiography as the gold standard for the diagnosis of cardiac disease in pediatric patients under maintenance HD as a high-risk population for cardiac diseases.