Relationship Between Adiposity and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Prevalent Hemodialysis Patients

Objective: Increased body mass index (BMI) is associated with reduced all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients, whereas CV risk increases with BMI in the general population. In the general population, obesity is associated with inflammation, decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides (TGs), all risk factors for CV disease. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol does not predict CV risk in HD, whereas increased C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 (IL-6), low HDL and apolipoprotein (apo) Al, and increased fasting TGs do predict risk. Renal failure is associated with dyslipidemia and inflammation in normal-weight patients. We hypothesized that the effects of obesity may be obscured by renal failure in HID. Methods: We explored the relationship between adipose tissue pools and distribution, i.e., subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) (measured by magnetic resonance imaging) and measures of inflammation (C-reactive protein, IL-6, ceruloplasmin, and alpha 1 acid glycoprotein), HDL and LDL cholesterol, total TGs, apo Al, apo B, apo CII (an activator of lipoprotein lipase), apo CIII (an inhibitor of lipoprotein lipase), and the adipokines, leptin and adiponectin, in 48 patients with prevalent HID. Results and Conclusions: Total TG concentrations were positively correlated with VAT controlled for age, sex, and weight. Both apo CII and apo CIII were correlated only with VAT. Adiponectin was inversely correlated with VAT, and leptin was positively associated with SAT. C-reactive protein and alpha 1 acid glycoprotein were weakly associated with SAT, whereas ceruloplasmin was strongly associated with VAT according to multiple regression analysis. In contrast, apo B, LDL, apo Al, HDL, and IL-6 were not correlated with any measure of body composition, potentially mitigating the effects of obesity in HID (C) 2009 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.