Unusual Dyslipidemia in Patients with Chronic Kidney Diseases

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a major and globally increasing health problem in the general population arising from a spectrum of diseases. Majority of the patients die even before reaching End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) due to cardiovascular complications which arise due to altered lipoprotein compositions.

Present study was aimed at evaluating the serum lipid profile in CKD patients and to find the pattern of its alteration in both haemodialyzed and conservatively treated CKD patients.

Seventy one randomly selected CKD patients attending a tertiary care hospital of Assam during one year of time frame (40 haemodialyzed and 31 conservatively treated) along with 50 apparently healthy controls were included in the study. Test for serum lipid profile, urea creatinine, FBS, PPBS, total protein and albumin were carried out in all the cases and controls. The results were analyzed and compared with the controls using Microsoft Excel software.

Triglyceride Level (TGL) of CKD group 157.88±61.82, controls 96.98±37.52, Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) of CKD group 31.58±12.36, controls 19.39±7.50 was marginally elevated and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) of CKD group 33.40±9.06, controls 45.95±10.35 was significantly reduced in the patient group as compared to the controls and the results were statistically highly significant with p-value<0.001. Total cholesterol (CKD group 128.2±53.57, controls 142.53±31.44) and LDL (CKD group 63.23±46.47, controls 77.35±26.81) were lower in the patient group as compared to the controls, however the difference was statistically not significant (p value 0.09 and 0.059 respectively). There was no statistically significant difference of lipid profile between hemodialyzed and conservatively treated CKD groups and there was no gender related variation of lipid profile too.

Increased TGL and reduced HDL, rather than increased total cholesterol and increased LDL are responsible for the high incidence of cardiovascular complications in CKD patients. Hypolipidemic drugs and low fat diet may be helpful in impeding the progression of cardiovascular complications and decrease mortality and morbidity in those patients.