Abstract
In hemodialysis patients, cerebrovascular accidents and ischemic heart disease induced by atherosclerosis are among the most important complications. As a result, we studied the grade of atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients by Yoshimura's pulse wave velocity method.
The HD group consisted of 23 hemodialysis patients (15 males and 8 females; mean age, 49) without diabetes mellitus and the control group of 43 outpatients (28 males and 15 females; mean age, 51) without cerebrovascular accident, ischemic heart disease or diabetes mellitus.
In both groups, pulse wave velocity (PWV) of the aorta was measured by Yoshimura's method, and serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were determined. These values were then compared between the HD and control groups. In addition, we investigated the relation between PWV and lipid, age and the duration of hemodialysis.
As a result, in the HD group, TC was 181±38mg/dl (mean±SD), TG was 153±85, HDL-C was 44±13. On the other hand, in the control group TC was 201±42 (NS), TG was 112±54 (p<0.05), and HDL-C was 51±14 (p<0.05). PWV and age for the HD and control groups were significantly correlated. PWV was 8.4±2.0m/s in the HD group and 8.1±1.2 in the control group, but there were no significant differences between them. There was no signifficant correlation between PWV and TC, TG, HDL-C or the hemodialysis period for the two groups.
Our study suggests that the grade of atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients assessed by PWV was under the influence of age as in the control group.
