Cardiac troponin I and beta 2 microglobulin as risk factors for early-onset atherosclerosis in patients on haemodialysis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the associations of different risk factors with carotid artery intima-media thickness (C-IMT) in non-diabetic haemodialysis (HD) patients who had no clinical evidence of atherosclerosis.


METHODS
Seventy-two HD patients (43 men, 29 women; mean age: 34.5 +/- 10.6 years; mean time on HD: 47.9 +/- 40.0 months) and 40 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (26 men, 14 women; mean age: 35.5 +/- 7.1 years) participated in the study. The relationship between C-IMT and haematocrit-corrected erythrocyte sedimentation rate (Hct-corrected ESR), beta 2 microglobulin (beta2M) and serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels beyond C-reactive protein (CRP), lipid profile and lipoprotein(a), fibrinogen, homocysteine and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) were examined.


RESULTS
Mean C-IMT of the HD patients was significantly greater than that of the control subjects (0.59 +/- 0.06 vs 0.53 +/- 0.07 mm, P = 0.002). C-IMT of patients was positively correlated with age (r = 0.33), body mass index (r = 0.40), Hct-corrected ESR (r = 0.37), CRP (r = 0.34), beta2M (r = 0.34), cTnI (r = 0.26), triglyceride (r = 0.26) and fibrinogen (r = 0.28) levels (P < 0.05 for all). The mean C-IMT was significantly greater in patients with LVH than it was in those without LVH (P = 0.004). In multivariate regression analysis, age (P = 0.02), beta2M (P = 0.001), log-transformed CRP (P = 0.03) and LVH (P = 0.01) were independently related with C-IMT.


CONCLUSIONS
Besides well-known cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, cTnI and beta2M were related with C-IMT in that they may have important roles in early-onset atherosclerosis in this high-risk population.
Zumrutdal
Aysegul
A
Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey. azumrutdal@yahoo.com
Sezer
Siren
S
Demircan
Senol
S
Seydaoglu
Gulsah
G
Ozdemir
F Nurhan
FN
Haberal
Mehmet
M
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood*; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000473:pathology; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D019210:Troponin I; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin