title: Prevalence of cardiovascular events in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study evaluates the prevalence of cardiovascular events in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We distributed surveys to 1,439 subjects from our ADPKD research database. In total, 426 subjects completed and returned surveys; 7 of these were from children and were excluded from the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients who responded were female (63.2%), nonHispanic (88.1%) and white (93.6%). The mean age of the total group was 53.2 ± 13.7 years; 82.8% had a family history of ADPKD and 32.5% had reached end-stage renal disease (ESRD). With respect to cardiovascular risk factors, 86.6% were hypertensive with a mean age at diagnosis of 36.9 ± 12.9 years and hypertension was significantly more prevalent in males. In addition, 19.6% of the subjects were obese, 20.8% were smokers, 8.7% had diabetes, 45.7% had high cholesterol and 17.8% were sedentary. The most prevalent self-reported cardiovascular events were arrhythmias (25.9%), evidence of peripheral vascular disease (16.5%), heart valve problems (14.4%), cardiac enlargement (9.5%), stroke or cerebral bleeding (7.5%), myocardial infarction (6%) and brain aneurysm (5.0%). The most commonly used antihypertensive medications were renin-angiotensin inhibitors used by 75% of ADPKD patients. Older ADPKD patients and those at ESRD had a significantly higher incidence of cardiovascular events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings support the high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and events in ADPKD patients which contribute to a greater mortality risk. Due to the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in the ADPKD population, early diagnosis and clinical intervention are recommended.
authors.affiliation: Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, Colo. 80045, USA.
authors.forename: Imed
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Helal
authors.forename: Berenice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mettler
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mc Fann
authors.forename: Oleksandra
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tkachenko
authors.forename: Xiang-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Schrier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000783:Aneurysm / Q000453:epidemiology; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003625:Data Collection; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000453:epidemiology; D006977:Hypertension, Renal / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D016891:Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology