Back
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive condition characterized by functional and structural kidney changes for more than 3 months. This disease significantly increases cardiovascular risks with implications on lipidic levels and cardiac function. To assess the association between CKD stage, eGFR levels and cardiovascular symptoms and events, as well as with lipid abnormalities.
The data were collected retrospectively from the medical records of patients at the nephrology outpatients’ clinic of a secondary healthcare center in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. Patients over 18 years old with CKD at any stage were included. Patients undergoing hemodialysis and those with pacemakers were excluded. Cardiovascular events were defined as myocardial infarction or stroke. Univariate analysis methods were employed, specifically Fisher's exact test, Student’s t-test, and simple linear regression. The analyses were conducted using R version 4.3.1 and Excel softwares.
A total of 51 patients were included, with mean age of 66.4 years; 34.6% were male.[1] The linear regression analysis between GFR and triglycerides (TG) had a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.058, indicating that the increase in GFR does not satisfactorily explain the increase in TG levels. Similar results were observed for the relationship between GFR and LDL (R²=0.036). The associations between GFR and LVEF (R²=0.0366) and GFR and mean arterial pressure (R²=0.00004) also showed low levels of explained variance. Regarding symptoms, no statistically significant difference in the frequency of angina (p=0.81) or dyspnea (p=0.76) was found between the different stages of CKD. The difference in the rates of cardiovascular events when comparing different CKD stages was not statistically significant (p=0.09). When comparing patients with and without proteinuria, there was no difference in LDL (p=0.92) and TG (p=0.66) levels between the two groups.
Colocar quantos pacientes foram incluídos, média de idade e percentual de acordo com o sexo.
Among these patients, lipid panel values and the rates of cardiovascular symptoms and events do not seem to vary when comparing different CKD stages and/or eGFR levels.