Factors related to pulse wave velocity and augmentation index in chronic hemodialysis patients

Impaired coronary microcirculation is associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in end-stage chronic kidney disease patients

INTRODUCTION

Coronary vascular dysfunction, as assessed by coronary flow reserve (CFR) in the left anterior descending coronary artery, is found in various conditions including end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD). Currently, we investigated the associations of CFR with echocardiographic indices of systolic and diastolic cardiac function and identified independent predictors of CFR in hemodialysis patients.

METHODS

End-stage CKD patients treated with hemodialysis (n = 29) without known cardiovascular disease were recruited from a Hemodialysis Unit in Northwestern Greece. A thorough echocardiographic evaluation including CFR measurement following dipyridamole infusion was performed in all participants. Arterial stiffness was assessed by measurement of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and aortic augmentation index.

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients was 63 years, and mean duration of hemodialysis was 2.9 years. CFR was 1.60 ± 0.37 while dipyridamole caused a significant increase in E'_sep , S_lat , E'_lat , and Stroke volume (P < .05 for all). Independent predictors of CFR were posterior wall thickness (B -0.408, P = .013) and dipyridamole-induced changes in Tei index (B -0.425, P = .007). A severely decreased CFR < 1.5 was observed in 52% of the patients. E/E' ratio (B 10.84, P = .014) was the single independent predictor of severely decreased CFR.

CONCLUSIONS

In end-stage CKD patients on hemodialysis without known cardiovascular disease, impaired coronary vascular function was prevalent and related to increased left ventricular wall thickness, increased filling pressures, and dipyridamole-induced deteriorated myocardial function independently of the presence of wall-motion abnormalities. Further studies are required to clarify the prognostic role of dipyridamole-induced cardiac changes in hemodialysis patients.

Aortic pulse wave velocity in haemodialysis patients is associated with the prescription of active vitamin D analogues

BACKGROUND

Cardiovascular disease remains the most common cause of death for haemodialysis patients. In addition to traditional cardiovascular risk factors, haemodialysis patients have additional risk factors, including vascular calcification. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a measurement of arterial stiffness, and we wished to determine whether PWV is affected by different factors in haemodialysis patients compared to the general population.

METHODS

Aortic PWV was measured in 303 adult patients attending for routine outpatient dialysis.

RESULTS

303 patients, 63.4% male, mean age 68.5 ± 15.8 years, 47.5% diabetic with a body mass index of 25.8 ± 5.3 kg/m(2), were studied. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 148.7 ± 28.6 mmHg and diastolic 80.4 ± 15.3 mmHg. Aortic PWV was 9.73 ± 2.08 m/s, and was correlated with SBP (β 0.015, F 5.29, p = 0.023), log serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) (β 1.58, F 13.85, p < 0.001) and prescription of alfacalcidol (β -1.11, F 6.81, p = 0.010). 197 patients had corresponding ECHO cardiograms, and in this cohort PWV was associated with SBP (β 0.017, F 7.49, p = 0.006), log serum parathyroid hormone (β 0.85, F 5.99, p < 0.015) and prescription of alfacalcidol (β -0.8, F 4.18, p = 0.042), left ventricular mass index (LVMI) (β 0.01, F 11.4, p = 0.001), and log serum triglycerides (β 1.43, F 4.79, p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

We found that PWV, a measurement of arterial stiffness, was associated with both traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including SBP and LVMI, but also non-traditional risk factors such as prescription of active vitamin D analogues, suggesting a potential link between vascular calcification and arterial stiffness in haemodialysis patients.