P1434ALDOSTERONE ANTAGONISTS FOR PATIENTS UNDERGOING DIALYSIS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
Authors: Hasegawa Takeshi , Nihiwaki Hiroki , Ota Erika , Levack William , Noma Hisashi 
Published: June 2020

Background and Aims

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) requiring dialysis are at a particularly high risk of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Several clinical trials suggested that aldosterone antagonists would be a promising treatment option for patients undergoing dialysis. However, the clinical efficacy and potential harm of aldosterone antagonists for patients with CKD on dialysis have yet to be determined. This review aimed to evaluate the benefits and harms of aldosterone antagonists, both non-selective (spironolactone) and selective (eplerenone), in comparison to control (placebo or standard care) in patients with CKD requiring haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.

Method

We searched the Cochrane Kidney and Transplant Register of Studies up to 29 July 2019 using search terms relevant to this review. Studies in the Register are identified through searches of CENTRAL, MEDLINE, and EMBASE, conference proceedings, the International Clinical Trials Register Search Portal and ClinicalTrials.gov. We included individual and cluster randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cross-over trials, and quasi-RCTs that compared aldosterone antagonists with placebo or standard care in patients with CKD requiring dialysis. Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed risk of bias for included studies. We used a random-effects model meta-analysis to perform a quantitative synthesis of the data. We used the I statistic to measure heterogeneity among the trials in each analysis. We indicated summary estimates as a risk ratio (RR) for dichotomous outcomes, mean difference (MD) for continuous outcomes, or standardised mean differences (SMD) if different scales were used, with their 95% confidence interval (CI). We assessed the certainty of the evidence for each of the main outcomes using the GRADE (Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach.

Results

We included 14 trials (12 parallel RCTs and two cross-over trials) involving a total of 1,375 participants. Most included studies had an unclear or high risk of bias. Compared to control, aldosterone antagonists reduced the risk of all-cause death for patients with CKD requiring dialysis (9 trials, 1,119 participants: RR 0.45, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.67; I=0%; moderate certainty of evidence). Aldosterone antagonist also decreased the risk of death due to cardiovascular disease (6 trials, 908 participants: RR 0.37, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.64; I=0%; moderate certainty of evidence) and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity (3 trials, 328 participants: RR 0.38, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.76; I=0%; moderate certainty of evidence). While aldosterone antagonists had an apparent increased risk of gynaecomastia compared with control (4 trials, 768 participants: RR 5.95, 95% CI 1.93 to 18.3; I=0%; moderate certainty of evidence), the elevated risk of hyperkalaemia (9 trials, 981 participants: RR 1.41, 95% CI 0.72 to 2.78; I=47%; low certainty of evidence) and increase in serum potassium (7 trials, 519 participants: MD 0.21, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.47; I2=84%) due to aldosterone antagonists was uncertain. Aldosterone antagonists had a marginal effect on left ventricular mass among participants undergoing dialysis (7 trials, 562 participants: SMD -0.33, 95% CI -0.72 to 0.05; I2=76%).

Conclusion

Based on moderate certainty of the evidence, aldosterone antagonists could reduce the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular death and morbidity due to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease but increase the risk of gynaecomastia in patients with CKD requiring dialysis. Two ongoing studies will provide better certainty of evidence in the future.