Pulse wave velocity is associated with metabolic syndrome components in CAPD patients.

BACKGROUND

Overall, the proportion of deaths due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) reached 40-50% in dialysis patients. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) reflects arterial stiffness and may provide an integrated index of vascular status and CVD risk. Individual components of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) are well-established cardiovascular risk factors. Thus we conducted a cross-sectional study in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients to explore the association of MetS components with PWV.

METHODS

Prevalent CAPD patients (n = 148, 63 M/85 F) were categorized according to the number of traits of the MetS into one of three groups (No MetS, Risk of MetS, MetS). Due to the effect of peritoneal dialysis (PD), waist circumference was not assessed. Aortic stiffness was assessed by carotid-femoral PWV (C-F PWV).

RESULTS

Patients' MetS trait numbers were positively associated with C-F PWV (r = 0.301, p < 0.01), pulse pressure (r = 0.256, p < 0.01), systolic blood pressure (r = 0.233, p < 0.01), and serum albumin (r = 0.205, p < 0.05). In a multivariate regression analysis, PWV was independently determined by age (p < 0.01) and MetS score (p = 0.01). Adjusted R(2) of the model was 0.24.

CONCLUSION

MetS traits were closely associated with an increased C-F PWV, even after adjustment for confounders. This suggests that commonly recognized MetS criteria are useful also when predicting CVD in CAPD patients.