Relationship between Arterial Stiffness and Renal Function Determined by Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Equations in a Chinese Cohort Undergoing Health Examination.

BACKGROUND

The association between arterial stiffness and cardiovascular risk in CKD and ESRD patients is well established. However, the relationship between renal function estimation and properties of large arteries is unclear due to the four different methods used to quantify glomerular filtration. This study investigated the relationship between carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (c-fPWV), as a measure of arterial stiffness, and accepted metrics of renal function.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 431 health examination individuals in China, enrolled from January 2017 to June 2019. c-fPWV and blood pressure were measured, and blood samples were obtained for all participants. Four different methods were used to determine the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as described by the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equations: (i) CKD-EPI formula based on SCr, (ii) CKD-EPI formula based on CysC, (iii) CKD-EPI formula based on Cr and CysC, and (iv) MDRD.

RESULTS

Of all of the study participants (average age 53.1 ± 13.0 years, 68.1% male), 23.7% had diabetes mellitus and 66.6% had hypertension. The average eGFR values determined by the CKD-EPI, CKD-EPI, CKD-EPI, and MDRD equations were 91.9 ± 15.6, 86.8 ± 21.4, 89.6 ± 18.3, and 90.7 ± 16.6 ml/min/1.73m respectively. c-fPWV was significantly and negatively correlated with eGFR determined by CKD-EPI ( = -0.336, < 0.001), CKD-EPI ( = -0.385, < 0.001), CKD-EPI ( = -0.378, < 0.001), and MDRD ( = -0.219, < .001) equations. After adjusting for confounding factors, c-fPWV remained significantly and negatively correlated with eGFR determined by the CKD-EPI equation ( = -0.105, = 0.042) and significantly and positively correlated with age ( = 0.349, ≤ 0.01), systolic pressure ( = 0.276, ≤ 0.01), and hypoglycemic drugs ( = 0.101, = 0.019).

CONCLUSION

In a health examination population in China, c-fPWV is negatively correlated with eGFR determined by four different equations; however, only the metric of eGFR determined by the equation for CKD-EPI showed an independent relation with c-fPWV.