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Assessment of Vascular Function in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease
08:50

Assessment of Vascular Function in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease

Published on: June 16, 2014

Arterial stiffness in mild-to-moderate CKD

Ashish Upadhyay1, Shih-Jen Hwang, Gary F Mitchell

  • 1Renal Section, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN
|July 18, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Arterial stiffness is linked to albuminuria, a marker of kidney damage, but not to mild-to-moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) in community-dwelling adults. This suggests stiffness may precede kidney function decline.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular epidemiology
  • Nephrology
  • Vascular biology

Background:

  • Arterial stiffness is a marker of cardiovascular risk.
  • The relationship between arterial stiffness and mild-to-moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) and albuminuria in the general population remains unclear.
  • CKD affects a significant portion of the population, and early detection is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between arterial stiffness and mild-to-moderate CKD and albuminuria in a community-based cohort.
  • To determine if arterial stiffness predicts the incidence of CKD or albuminuria over time.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were conducted using data from the Framingham Heart Study.
  • Measures of arterial stiffness included carotid femoral pulse wave velocity and central pressure waveforms.
  • CKD was defined by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m²), and albuminuria by urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio.

Main Results:

  • Arterial stiffness did not associate with prevalent mild-to-moderate CKD in cross-sectional analyses.
  • Carotid femoral pulse wave velocity was significantly associated with albuminuria (both ratio and microalbuminuria) after multivariable adjustment.
  • Baseline arterial stiffness measures did not predict incident CKD or incident microalbuminuria in longitudinal analyses.

Conclusions:

  • Arterial stiffness is associated with albuminuria, indicating kidney microvascular damage.
  • Arterial stiffness is not associated with mild-to-moderate CKD in this community-based cohort.
  • These findings suggest that arterial stiffness may be an early marker for kidney damage related to albuminuria, independent of overall kidney function decline.

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