Increased pulse wave velocity is associated with low creatinine clearance and proteinuria in a screened cohort

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a risk factor for future cardiovascular disease. Although pulse wave velocity (PWV), which reflects arterial stiffness, was increased in subjects with CKD, little is known regarding whether renal function is associated with PWV in a low-risk population and whether proteinuria and decreased renal function synergistically affect PWV.

Subjects are 3,387 persons (mean age, 52 years) who attended a health checkup program in Okinawa, Japan. We measured brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) by using an automatic oscillometric method. Proteinuria was semiquantified by using the dipstick method. Creatinine clearance (CCr) was estimated by using the Cockcroft-Gault formula.

baPWV was accelerated with increases in age, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose level, and total cholesterol level; male sex; presence of proteinuria; and decrease in CCr. All these factors independently predicted baPWV in multiple regression analysis. When subjects were divided into 6 groups according to CCr of 90 or greater, 60 to 89, or 30 to 59 mL/min (> or =1.50, 1.00 to 1.48, or 0.50 to 0.98 mL/s) and the absence or presence of proteinuria, baPWV, after adjustment for age, sex, and systolic blood pressure, increased in a stepwise fashion corresponding to decreases in CCr regardless of proteinuria, with the relationship exaggerated in the presence of proteinuria.

Arterial stiffness increases with a decrease in renal function or with proteinuria independently of other risk factors.