Association of Arterial Stiffness with the Decrease of Post-Dialysis Blood Pressure in Maintained Hemodialysis Patients.

Purpose : Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in hemodialysis patients. Arterial stiffness is known to be associated with vascular calcification in HD patients. Post-dialysis hypotension is a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality. We evaluated the relation between arterial stiffness and post-dialysis blood pressure in maintained HD patients. Methods : 72 HD patients were enrolled in this study. They had been under maintenance HD for more than 3 months. We checked the biochemical data, including the troponin T, CRP and OPG (osteoprotegerin) levels before their dialysis session and the baPWV (brachio-ankle pulse wave velocity) after the session. We defined post-dialysis BP decrease as a drop of BP of more than 5% of the average MAP for 2 weeks (6 sessions). Results : There were 34 and 38 patients with and without post-dialysis BP decrease, respectively. The BP decrease group had higher CRP, troponin T and OPG levels (p