Cardiometabolic Role of Visfatin in Patients on Peritoneal Dialysis

Objective: There is a relationship between inflammation and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with chronic kidney disease. Visfatin is an adipocytokine, which has been shown to be associated with inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and CVD. Our study aimed to examine the relationship of visfatin with metabolic and echocardiographic parameters in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). Materials and Methods: A total of 50 patients (mean age, 51.9 +/- 15.3 years; 29 women) followed up in our unit, and 31 healthy controls were enrolled in our study. Demographic characteristics, routine laboratory tests, echocardiographic findings, flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) percentages, and visfatin levels of the individuals were recorded. Results: No significant difference was found in the mean serum visfatin level of patients on PD compared with that of the control group (11.95 +/- 4.37 ng/mL and 13.43 +/- 6.68 ng/mL, respectively; p=0.384). Visfatin was positively correlated with serum glucose level (r=0.298, p=0.036), levels of uric acid (r=0.404, p=0.004), sodium (r=0.313, p=0.027), alanine aminotransferase (r=0.344, p=0.015) and negatively correlated with left ventricle end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) (r=-0.305, p=0.031) in univariate analyses. Other echocardiographic parameters and FMD showed no correlation with visfatin. Significant association was found between visfatin and LVEDD (cm) (B=-0.087, beta=-0.334, p=0.011), uric acid (mg/dL) (B=0.042, beta=0.287, p=0.033), and sodium (mmol/L) (B=0.012, beta=0.277, p=0.038) in linear regression analysis. Conclusion: Visfatin is an adipocytokine with a potential relationship with cardiac remodeling, metabolic diseases, and water-salt balance in patients on PD.