Abstract
BACKGROUND: Though the albumin-to-alkaline phosphatase ratio (AAPR) is used as a biomarker in various diseases, little is known about its effect on outcomes after peritoneal dialysis (PD). METHODS: This multicenter retrospective study comprised 357 incident PD patients stratified according to the AAPR. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to identify 85 patients for a well-matched comparison of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Using Cox regression, we performed univariate and multivariate analyses to investigate the prognostic value of the AAPR and established a Kaplan-Meier curve-predicted nomogram to estimate expected overall survival (OS). We assessed the predictive accuracy using the concordance index (c-index). RESULTS: We found that the optimal cut-off of the AAPR to predict mortality was 0.36. In the present cohort of patients undergoing PD, a low AAPR strongly correlated with worse OS. In the multivariate analysis, the AAPR was shown to be an independent marker predicting reduced OS both before [hazard ratio (HR) 1.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08-2.60, P = 0.020] and after PSM (HR 1.96, 95% CI 1.06-3.62, P = 0.020). We also observed significant differences in OS in several subgroups, but not the group of patients with comorbidities. A nomogram was established to predict overall survival, with a c-index for prediction accuracy was 0.71 after PSM. CONCLUSION: AAPR has potential as an independent prognostic biomarker in patients undergoing PD.