Plasma ghrelin levels in association with left ventricular function and nutritional status in dialysis patients

The present study investigated the association between ghrelin levels and the cardiac function and malnutrition of dialysis patients. The aim was to examine the conducive use of exogenous ghrelin to improve the malnutrition, protect the cardiovascular function with dialysis patients in the future. The study included 30 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients and 30 hemodialysis (HD) patients undertaking treatment between March 2013 and March 2014. The control group included a total of 30 healthy physical examinees. The plasma ghrelin levels were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to collect the clinical materials and biochemical parameters. The plasma ghrelin levels were 4.28±1.07, 4.63±1.08 and 2.00±0.48 ng/ml in the CAPD, HD and control groups, respectively, and statistical significance was identified between the three groups; F=75.106, P<0.0001. The plasma ghrelin levels in the CAPD group were positively correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (r=0.506, P=0.004) and were negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI) (r=-0.556, P=0.001). The plasma ghrelin levels in the CAPD and HD groups were positively correlated with serum creatinine (Scr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). In conclusion, the plasma ghrelin levels of patients in the CAPD and HD groups were higher compared to those of the control group, which demonstrated that dialysis patients could not effectively remove the plasma ghrelin. The present study found that the plasma ghrelin levels were positively correlated with LVEF, and high levels of ghrelin will exhibit protective effects on the cardiovascular function of CAPD patients. Plasma ghrelin levels were positively correlated with Scr and BUN levels in CAPD and HD patients, and were negatively correlated with BMI in CAPD patients, which showed that ghrelin was correlated with malnutrition of dialysis patients.