title: Renal function predicts cardiovascular outcomes in southern Italian postmenopausal women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Postmenopausal women have an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular (CV) events. Similarly, chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a well established risk factor for CV disease and mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the effect of renal function on the risk of death and CV events in 1500 southern Italian postmenopausal women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Renal function was estimated (e) by glomerular filtration rate (e-GFR) by Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation. We classified postmenopausal women in two groups of e-GFR (ml/min per 1.73 m(2)): > or =60 (group 1) and less than 60 (group 2). The primary endpoint was major adverse CV events (MACE). The secondary endpoints were total events (MACE + death from any cause), coronary events, and stroke. During the follow-up (mean=72.6 months), there were 200 new CV morbid events. The rate of MACE (per 100 patient-years) was 1.88 and 2.98 in the two groups of e-GFR (P<0.0001). On univariate analysis, the incident risk of CV events was inversely related with the e-GFR values; similarly, in multiple Cox regression model, only the e-GFR maintained an independent association with MACE and secondary end-points.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For the first time, we demonstrated that the reduction of e-GFR was associated with the increased risk of death and CV events, independently of traditional CV risk factors, menopause duration, and presence of metabolic syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine G. Salvatore, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Italy. perticone@unicz.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Perticone
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sciacqua
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maio
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perticone
authors.forename: Irma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Laino
authors.forename: Rosamaria
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bruni
authors.forename: Serena Di
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Cello
authors.forename: Giulia Galiano
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Andreozzi
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sesti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors