Objective: Arterial stiffness is one of the major complications in chronic kidney disease. In this study, we investigated the association between glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and arterial stiffness in chronic kidney disease (CKD), and studied the effect of dialysis on arterial stiffness.
Methods: A total of 62 stable continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients, 56 patients on maintenance hemodialysis, 128 predialysis CKD patients and 40 healthy controls were included into this study. These four groups were all nondiabetic and comparable in age and gender. The pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx) were evaluated by an applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor). Clinical data and lab tests were collected from inpatient case history and dialysis data base.
Results: Female patients had higher AIx than male patients in both predialysis and dialysis patients. Both PWV and AIx were positively correlated with age, and were significantly higher in patients requiring antihypertensive drugs (p < 0.05). PWV and AIx were negatively correlated with GFR in predialysis CKD patients (p < 0.05). Patients on peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis had better PWV and AIx than predialysis CKD 5 patients (19.8 ± 10.9%, 19.7 ± 9.4% vs. 25.3 ± 10.1%, p < 0.05), indicating that dialysis may improve arterial stiffness. No difference was found between peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis patients.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that arterial stiffness progresses with deterioration of renal function in CKD patients, and both peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis can improve arterial stiffness in patients with uremia.