Renal function predicts cardiovascular outcomes in southern Italian postmenopausal women

Postmenopausal women have an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular (CV) events. Similarly, chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a well established risk factor for CV disease and mortality.

We evaluated the effect of renal function on the risk of death and CV events in 1500 southern Italian postmenopausal women.

Renal function was estimated (e) by glomerular filtration rate (e-GFR) by Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation. We classified postmenopausal women in two groups of e-GFR (ml/min per 1.73 m(2)): > or =60 (group 1) and less than 60 (group 2). The primary endpoint was major adverse CV events (MACE). The secondary endpoints were total events (MACE + death from any cause), coronary events, and stroke. During the follow-up (mean=72.6 months), there were 200 new CV morbid events. The rate of MACE (per 100 patient-years) was 1.88 and 2.98 in the two groups of e-GFR (P<0.0001). On univariate analysis, the incident risk of CV events was inversely related with the e-GFR values; similarly, in multiple Cox regression model, only the e-GFR maintained an independent association with MACE and secondary end-points.

For the first time, we demonstrated that the reduction of e-GFR was associated with the increased risk of death and CV events, independently of traditional CV risk factors, menopause duration, and presence of metabolic syndrome.