Epidemiology of heart valvular calcification in different stages of chronic kidney disease

Objectives Heart valvular calcification (VC) is an important predictor of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease(CKD).However,epidemiologic data about VC in CKD is scarce.Our study was to investigate the prevalence of VC in different stages of CKD and its associated factors.Methods Clinical and echocardiographic data was retrospectively collected from CKD patients in Guangdong General Hospital between January 2008 and December 2010.Results Among 1550 patients,180 cases (11.6％)were detected with VC by echocardiography.Prevalence of VC in CKD stage 1 ～ 5D was 0.6％,3.1％,8.9％,6.8％,4.4％ and 28.8％,respectively.VC was highest in CKD-5D and increased with dialysis vintage.Logistic regression analysis showed the associated factors included age,serum calcium,iPTH,moderate-to-severe heart valvular regurgitation,left ventricular hypertrophy,CKD-5 D stage and cardiovascular morbidity.Conclusions Prevalence of VC differs according CKD stages.Not all CKD patients were liable to VC.It was uncommon in CKD stage 1,but markedly increased in MHD patients.We suggest screening for heart VC in CKD-5D stage in order to stratify risk. Key words: Kidney Disease ;  Chronic Disease ;  Heart Valves ;  Calcinosis