The Study of Metabolic Syndrome in Hemodialysis Patients

Metabolic syndrome (MS), comprised of central obesity, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, low HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), high triglyceride (TG) and hypertension, results in markedly increased risk for cardiovascular disease in the general population. The National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) report recommended the use of five variables for the diagnosis of the MS including waist circumference (WC), serum TG concentration, serum HDL-C concentration, blood pressure and fasting glucose concentration. A waist circumference of 80 cm in women and 90 cm in men would better identify those with the MS in Asian populations. However, the studies of modified asian criteria of metabolic syndrome in hemodialysis (HD) patients are scarce.

We will perform prevalence investigation, cross-sectional study, and prospective investigation for metabolic syndrome in our HD patients (around 360 at present). We will enroll all the patients who receive maintenance HD more than three months in our HD center. The patients who are hospitalizing, suffered from active malignancy, active infections, recent cardiovascular events and surgery will be excluded in the beginning of study. Biochemistry and anthropometric parameters including HDL-C, TG, insulin resistance index, high sensitivity C-reactive protein and WC will be collected and analyzed. We will also prospectively establish the mortality and hospitalization indices of these patients, to study the prognosis of HD patient with or without metabolic syndrome.

This study will be helpful to understand whether the application of a modified criteria of metabolic syndrome in HD patients is capable to predict cardiovascular events, hospitalization and mortality rates.