title: Carotid artery lesions and atherosclerotic risk factors in Japanese hemodialysis patients.
abstract: To determine the prevalence and severity of carotid artery lesions and which risk factors might be responsible for atherosclerosis in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, we tested for carotid atherosclerosis (CA) by ultrasonography and compared the CA prevalence with well-known or suspected atherosclerotic risk factors in 226 hemodialysis (HD) patients and 2410 healthy residents of Japan. The CA prevalence was higher in the HD patients than in the healthy residents. Univariate analysis showed that HD patients with CA had a higher frequency of diabetes mellitus and left ventricular hypertrophy, and were significantly older, had significantly higher systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure, and lower albumin levels than those without. Multivariate analysis showed that age, pulse pressure, phosphorus, duration of HD, and diabetes mellitus were independent, significant predictors for CA in the HD patients. Neither Chlamydia pneumoniae seropositivity nor elevated homocysteine level was independently, significantly associated with CA. Our results suggest that HD patients had more advanced CA than the healthy residents. CA in the HD patients may be associated not only with several conventional risk factors but also with non-conventional risk factors such as phosphorus and the HD procedure itself.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoyasu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sawayama
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tatsukawa
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Norihiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Furusyo
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shigematsu
authors.forename: Seizaburo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kashiwagi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000009:adverse effects; D012307:Risk Factors