Cardiac structure and function and renal insufficiency in the oldest old.

BACKGROUND

People over the age of 85 years have a high incidence of cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease.

HYPOTHESIS

There is an association between renal function and cardiac structure and function in subjects 85 years of age.

METHODS

Subjects born in the years 1920 and 1921 were recruited from the Jerusalem Longitudinal Cohort Study. Echocardiography was performed at the subject's home with assessment of cardiac structure and function. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was assessed by the Cockroft-Gault formula, with abnormal GFR defined as ≤60 mL/min/1.73 m(2).

RESULTS

There were 310 subjects who were enrolled. When GFR was examined as a continuous variable, linear regression showed a small although statistically significant relationship between GFR and left atrial volume (r = 0.15, P < 0.014), left ventricular mass index (r = 0.12, P < 0.04), and ejection fraction (r = 0.19, P < 0.03) but not with indices of diastolic function (r = 0.02, P < 0.72). However, using the accepted clinical cutoff of 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2), there were no significant differences between subjects with normal and abnormal GFR in indices of cardiac structure. Ejection fraction (57.0 ± 10.4% vs 54.4 ± 10.3%; P = 0.08) and indices of diastolic function (E/e' 12.4 ± 5.0 vs 12.3 ± 4.6; P = 0.89) were not significantly different between the 2 groups.

CONCLUSIONS

A weak and clinically insignificant association was found between GFR as a continuous variable and indices of cardiac function. However, using the clinically accepted cutoff, no association between abnormal GFR and cardiac structure or function was observed.