[Renal failure and cardiovascular risk].
Prevalent studies concerning chronic renal failure (CRF) in the general adult population, using the Crockroft-Gault formula correcting serum creatinine values for calibration factors, indicate that about 22.8% have initial CRF. If the albuminuria itself is considered as an index of renal damage, we find a prevalence rate in the adult population of about 8.5%, with slight differences between females and males. Considering only this second more optimistic statistic and comparing it with the number of patients on dialysis, evidenced by the different specific registers, we observe that only 2% of the population with renal failure reach terminal uremia; and therefore, require substitutive therapy or renal transplantation. For many years, statistical analyzes have been carried out on the prevalence of pathologies present in patients who arrive at dialysis; to date, little has been done for patients with initial or average renal failure. Few of these studies are prospective. The data of studies concerning the elderly population suffering from CFR of varying degrees, as well as the data of longitudinal studies concerning patients controlled for a few years, have shown that cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are more responsible for the mortality of patients with even modest renal failure before reaching uremia compared to patients without renal failure. On the contrary, statistics on the prevalence of CVD in patients who arrive at dialysis are well-known, it can be >70%. Different organizations such as the National Kidney Foundation, the American Heart Association and the Seventh Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure have considered the presence of CRF a cardiovascular risk factor.
Iorio
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U.O. Nefrologia e Dialisi, Ospedale Gemma De Bosis, Cassino (FR). uonefro.cassino@libero.it
D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D012307:Risk Factors