BACKGROUND Despite a reduced number of infectious complications, cardiovascular (CV) mortality remains unchanged in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and pulse pressure (PP) at the start of PD on the development of CV events (CVEs) in these patients.

METHODS The study population was comprised of 291 patients that started PD between January 2003 and June 2008 and were treated for more than 6 months. Baseline clinical, biochemical, and echocardiographic data, indices of dialysis adequacy, and peritoneal transport rate were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical outcome was the occurrence of a CVE.

RESULTS Mean duration of follow-up was 28 (range 6 - 70) months. A CVE was observed in 33 patients (11.3%). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year cumulative incidences of CVEs were 4.0%, 13.7%, and 27.5%, respectively. Although multiple variables were correlated with the prevalence of a CVE in the univariate analysis, hs-CRP, PP, and comorbidity remained significant after adjustment: hs-CRP: odds ratio (OR) 4.09 (1.53 - 10.95), p = 0.005; PP: OR 2.79 (1.26 - 6.17), p = 0.012. PP and hs-CRP, which were not intercorrelated in our data, combined adversely to increase the incidence of CVEs. The incidence of CVEs increased with the number of risk factors, which included high hs-CRP, high PP, and the presence of comorbidity (no risk factor, 0%; 1 risk factor, 1.5%; 2 risk factors, 30.8%; 3 risk factors, 53.9%).

CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that measurements of hs-CRP and PP at the start of PD may be helpful in predicting the development of CVEs in the course of treatment with PD.