Vascular Function at Baseline in the Hemodialysis Fistula Maturation Study.

BACKGROUND: End-stage renal disease is accompanied by functional and structural vascular abnormalities. The objective of this study was to characterize vascular function in a large cohort of patients with end-stage renal disease, using noninvasive physiological measurements, and to correlate function with demographic and clinical factors. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analyzed cross-sectional baseline data from the Hemodialysis Fistula Maturation Study, a multicenter prospective observational cohort study of 602 patients with end-stage renal disease from 7 centers. Brachial artery flow- and nitroglycerin-mediated dilation, carotid-femoral and -radial pulse wave velocity, and venous occlusion plethysmography were performed prior to arteriovenous fistula creation. Relationships of these vascular function measures with demographic, clinical, and laboratory factors were evaluated using linear mixed-effects models. Arterial function, as assessed by flow- and nitroglycerin-mediated dilation and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, worsened with increasing age and diabetes mellitus. Venous capacitance decreased with diabetes mellitus but not with age. Flow-mediated dilation was higher among patients undergoing maintenance dialysis than for those at predialysis, and a U-shaped relationship between serum phosphorus concentration and flow-mediated dilation was evident. Partial correlations among different measures of vascular function, adjusting for demographic factors, diabetes mellitus, and clinical center, were modest or essentially nonexistent. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple demographic and clinical factors were associated with the functions of vessels of different sizes and types in this large cohort of patients with end-stage renal disease. Low correlations between the different measures, controlling for demographic factors, diabetes mellitus, and center, indicated that these different types of vascular function otherwise vary heterogeneously across patients.

Periodontitis associated with chronic kidney disease among Mexican Americans.

OBJECTIVE: In comparison to non-Hispanic whites, a number of health-care disparities, including poor oral health, have been identified among Hispanics in general and Mexican Americans in particular. We hypothesized that Mexican Americans with chronic kidney disease (CKD) would have higher prevalence of chronic periodontitis compared with Mexican Americans with normal kidney function, and that the level of kidney function would be inversely related to the prevalence of periodontal disease. METHODS: We examined this hypothesis using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994 (NHANES III) data set. We followed the American Academy of Periodontology/Center for Disease Control and Prevention case definition for periodontitis. Glomerular filtration rate was estimated using the CKD-Epidemiology equation for Hispanic populations. The classification to CKD stages was based on the National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative. RESULTS: Periodontitis prevalence increased across the kidney function groups showing a statistically significant dose-response association (P<0.001). Mexican Americans with reduced kidney function were twofold more likely to have periodontitis compared with Mexican Americans with normal kidney function after adjusting for potential confounders such as smoking, diabetes, and socioeconomic status. Multivariate adjusted odds ratio for periodontitis significantly increased with 1, 5, and 10 mL/minute estimated glomerular filtration rate reduction from the mean. CONCLUSION: This is the first report, to the best our knowledge, that showed an increase of periodontitis prevalence with decreased kidney function in this population.