Abstract: Objective  To explorethe causes of death and related risk factors in patients with maintenance hemodialysis(MHD),  and provide scientific basis for the diagnosis and treatment of of such patients.Methods  To investigate the mortality of all maintenance dialysis patients in our center during the past 10 years,  and to compare the clinical and laboratory data between the death group and the survival group of maintenance dialysis at the same time.Results  The total mortality of maintenance dialysis patients was 8.8% (167/1694). With the prolongation of dialysis age,  the proportion of death increased gradually (r=0.367,  0.05). According to the age composition of the dead patients,  42.5% (71/167) were over 60 years old,  31.7% (53/167) were diabetic nephropathy,  25.1% (42/167) were primary glomerular diseases,  and 12.6% (21/167) were hypertension nephropathy. The causes of death included cardiovascular complications 40.7% (68/167),  infection 36.5% (61/167) and stroke 11.9% (20/167). The comparison of clinical and laboratory data between the death group and the survival group during maintenance hemodialysis showed that the control rate of blood pressure in the death group was significantly lower than that in the survival group (P<0.01),  the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure before hemodialysis was significantly higher than that in the survival group (P<0.05). The Kt/V value was significantly lower than that of the survival group  (P<0.05),  the levels of serum phosphorus and PTH were significantly higher than those of the survival group (P<0.05),  the weight gain during the dialysis interval was significantly higher than that of the survival group (P<0.05),  and the proportion of the death group with less than 8 hours of dialysis per week was significantly lower than that of the survival group (P<0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed that high systolic blood pressure,  diastolic blood pressure,  low serum protein level,  low hemoglobin level,  Kt/V level,  less than 8 hours of dialysis time per week,  high serum phosphorus level and high PTH level were the main risk factors of death in maintenance dialysis patients (P<0.05).Conclusion  The main causes of death in maintenance hemodialysis patients are cardiovascular diseases. Hypertension,  dialysis less than 8 hours weekly,  inadequate dialysis, hypophosphatemia，hyperthyroidemia and malnutrition were  significant risk factorsfor death in patients with maintenance dialysis.

Key words: renal dialysis, risk factor, mortality