Abstract
BACKGROUND: Central arteriovenous fistula (cAVF) has been investigated as a therapeutic measure for treatment-resistant hypertension in patients without advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). There is considerable experience with the use of AVF for hemodialysis in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). However, there is sparse data on the blood pressure (BP) effects of an AVF among patients with ESRD. We hypothesized that AVF creation would significantly reduce BP compared with patients who did not have an AVF among patients with ESRD before starting hemodialysis. METHODS: BPs were compared during the 12 months before hemodialysis initiation in 399 patients with an AVF or AV graft created and 4,696 patients without either. RESULTS: After propensity score matching 1:2 ratio (AVF to no AVF), repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant reductions of -1.7 mm Hg systolic and -3.9 mm Hg diastolic BP 12 months in patients after AVF creation; P = 0.025 and P < 0.001, respectively, compared with those with no AVF. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that AVF creation results in modest BP reduction in patients with pre-dialysis ESRD who require AVF for eventual hemodialysis therapy. Preferential diastolic BP reduction suggests that greater work is needed to characterize the ideal patient subset in which to use cAVF for treatment-resistant hypertension in those without advanced CKD.