Relation between physiological variation of renal function and carotid intima media thickness in non-diabetic individuals

Aim: moderate to severe renal insufficiency and albuminuria have been shown to be independent risk factors for atherosclerosis. however,the association between renal function and intima media thickness (imt) in non-diabetic individuals is less clear. we therefore investigated the relation between renal function,established cardiovascular risk factors and carotid intima media thickness in non-diabetic individuals. methods: 853 non-diabetic participants were included in this project. renal function was estimated using the simplified modification of diet in renal disease (mdrd) formulae,a refit mdrd equation for healthy persons (mdrd-1) or the jellife 2 formula,an age independent estimate of glomerular filtration rate (gfr). carotid arterial intima-media thickness was measured at the posterior wall of the common carotid artery and the bulbus (imtacc,imtbulbus). results: weak correlations between imtacc or imtbulbus and mdrd were found (r =-0.105,p=0.002; r =-0.127,p<0.001). and similiar results were found for mdrd-1. however,adjustment of that relation for age modified the picture. while age was an independent predictor,mdrd or mdrd-1 were not further informative. further adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors confirmed that relation. correspondingly,gfr estimated by the age-independent formula jellife 2 was not correlated with imt. conclusions: the results of this study indicate that variation of renal function within the normal range is not independently associated with carotid intima media thickness in non-diabetic individuals. crude correlations between mdrd and imt appear to reflect the inter-relation among age,egfr and imt.