Monocyte count/HDL cholesterol ratio and cardiovascular events in patients with chronic kidney disease

Previous studies showed that renal dysfunction was associated with both a reduction in serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration and increased circulating monocyte count. We aimed to investigate the effect of circulating monocyte to serum HDL cholesterol ratio (M/H ratio) on fatal and composite cardiovascular events, in an observational cohort study of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.

A total of 340 subjects with stage 1-5 CKD were followed for a mean follow-up period of 33 (range 2-44) months and assessed for fatal and nonfatal CV events. M/H ratio was calculated for all patients. All-cause mortality and CVE were also analyzed in relation to M/H ratio.

Monocyte/HDL cholesterol ratio was negatively correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (r = -0.43, P < 0.001). Notably, both fatal and combined fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events were more common in patients having a M/H ratio in the third tertile was associated with a hazard ratio of 2.24 and 4.91, respectively, for fatal and composite cardiovascular events compared to being in the first tertile.

Monocyte/HDL cholesterol ratio was increased with decreasing eGFR in predialytic CKD patients. Most importantly, we report for the first time that an increased M/H ratio was cross-sectionally associated with a worse cardiovascular profile and arose as independent predictors of major cardiovascular events during follow-up.