[Clinical study of risk factors concerning arteriosclerosis of the patients undergoing hemodialysis]

To study the risk factors of arteriosclerosis of the patients undergoing hemodialysis, aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured in 42 patients (26 male and 16 female) undergoing hemodialysis. The relationships were examined between PWV value and various risk factors, such as age, blood pressure, serum lipid level and aortic calcification index (ACI). PWV value was elevated with age and it was higher in the patients group than the age-matched control subjects. There was a statistically significant correlation between PWV value and blood pressure. The effect of elastase on PWV value was found in the patients with high PWV value (over 9.0 m/sec). However, no correlations were found between PWV value and serum lipid level such as total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol and beta-lipoprotein. On the other hand, PWV value was changeable according to ACI and this relationship was statistically significant (p less than 0.01). These results suggested that aortic calcification could be one risk factor for arteriosclerosis of the patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis.