Is Sclerostin Level Associated with Cardiovascular Diseases in Hemodialysis Patients?

Abstract

Background/Aims: The objective of this study is to evaluate the relation between sclerostin, arterial stiffness, and cardiovascular events (CVE) in hemodialysis patients (HD). Methods: Sclerostin level and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) in 97 HD patients and sclerostin level in 40 controls were measured. Results: Sclerostin level was significantly higher in patients than in controls. Sclerostin associated positively with age, male gender, cardiovascular disease, statin use, BMI, and PWV while negatively with alkaline phosphatase, parathormone (PTH), Kt/V, cinacalcet and vitamin D use in univariable correlation analyses. Sclerostin associated positively with male gender and statin use but negatively with PTH in multivariate regression analyses. During observation, 30 fatal or nonfatal CVEs were observed. While univariate correlation analysis showed a positive association between PWV and sclerostin, there was no relation between the two in multivariate regression analysis. Conclusion: Further studies are needed to understand the role of sclerostin in predicting PWV changes in HD patients.