Circulating bone-specific alkaline phosphatase and abdominal aortic calcification in maintenance hemodialysis patients

AIM: To explore the relationship between circulating bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BALP) levels and abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) in patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). METHODS: A total of 156 MHD patients were enrolled. Serum BALP levels were measured using ELISA, and AAC was assessed via lateral abdominal radiography. RESULTS: BALP was positively correlated with AAC score (r = 0.389; p < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, dialysis vintage and BALP were independent risk factors for AAC in MHD patients. Receiver-operating characteristic analysis indicated that the area under the curve of BALP for the prediction of AAC was 0.737 (95% CI: 0.619-0.855; p < 0.01). When the detection cut-off level was 17.55 μg/l, its sensitivity was 81.7% and specificity was 74.5%. CONCLUSION: Serum BALP is closely correlated with vascular calcification in MHD patients.