title: Global approach to cardiovascular risk in chronic kidney disease: reality and opportunities for intervention.
abstract: The current implementation into nephrology clinical practice of guidelines on treatment of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unknown. We designed a cross-sectional analysis to evaluate the prevalence and treatment of eight modifiable CV risk factors in 1058 predialysis CKD patients (stage 3: n=486; stage 4: n=430, stage 5: n=142) followed for at least 1 year in 26 Italian renal clinics. The median nephrology follow-up was 37 months (range: 12-391 months). From stages 3 to 5, hypertension was the main complication (89, 87, and 87%), whereas smoking, high calcium-phosphate product and malnutrition were uncommon. The prevalence of proteinuria (25, 38, and 58%), anemia (16, 32, and 51%) and left ventricular hypertrophy (51, 55, and 64%) significantly increased, while hypercholesterolemia was less frequent in stage 5 (49%) than in stages 4 and 3 (59%). The vast majority of patients received multidrug antihypertensive therapy including inhibitors of renin-angiotensin system; conversely, diuretic treatment was consistently inadequate for both frequency and dose despite scarce implementation of low salt diet (19%). Statins were not prescribed in most hypercholesterolemics (78%), and epoietin treatment was largely overlooked in anemics (78%). The adjusted risk for having a higher number of uncontrolled risk factors rose in the presence of diabetes (odds ratio 1.29, 95% confidence interval 1.00-1.66), history of CV disease (odds ratio 1.48, 95% confidence interval 1.15-1.90) and CKD stages 4 and 5 (odds ratio 1.75, 95% confidence interval 1.37-2.22 and odds ratio 2.85, 95% confidence interval 2.01-4.04, respectively). In the tertiary care of CKD, treatment of hypertension is largely inadequate, whereas therapy of anemia and dyslipidemia is frequently omitted. The risk of not achieving therapeutic targets is higher in patients with diabetes, CV disease and more advanced CKD.
authors.affiliation: Chair of Nephrology, Department of Medicine and Public-Health Research Center for Cardiovascular Disease, Second University of Napoli, Napoli, Italy. luca.denicola@unina2.it
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Nicola
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Minutolo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chiodini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zoccali
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Castellino
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Donadio
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strippoli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Casino
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giannattasio
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Petrarulo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Virgilio
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Laraia
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Di Iorio
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Savica
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Conte
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015995:Prevalence; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents