Metabolic syndrome and chronic kidney disease.

To determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients as well as its effects on the progression of CKD, we conducted a prospective, longitudinal study including 180 patients with chronic renal failure followed at the outpatient service of Nephrology at the Saloul's University Hospital of Sousse (Tunisia) over six months. Our study population consisted of 101 men and 79 women. Chronic glomerulonephritis (36.6%) was the most frequent nephropathy. The mean serum creatinine was 249 ± 200 mmol/L and the mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 55.8 ± 49.2 mL/min. Cardiovascular (CV) impairment was found in 27.2% of the patients. The prevalence of MS was 42.2%. Women had significantly more abdominal obesity than men. Subjects with MS were significantly older and predominantly females who had higher blood pressure and body mass index (BMI). CV complications were more frequent among the MS subjects than among the controls. Glycemia, triglycerides, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c) were significantly higher in the group of CKD patients with MS. However, the occurrence of MS was not influenced by the nature of nephropathy, the degree of the CKD and the use of renin-angiotensin blockers or statins. In multivariate analysis, predictors of occurrence of MS in our series included older age, female gender and higher BMI and LDL-c levels. The prevalence of MS in patients with CKD is higher than the general population. These patients should receive special multidisciplinary care to limit CV complications.