Background
Myocardial fibrosis represents a mainstay pathway in the pathophysiology of uremic cardiomyopathy. This process leads to structural and functional changes in the heart, which can be detected by echocardiography. The
Conclusion
Our study evidenced that PICP, a collagen-derived biomarker, is associated with important echocardiography parameters, suggesting that it can serve as an indicator of the presence of subclinical systolic and diastolic dysfunction in patients with advanced CKD.
Methods
140 patients with ESRD were enrolled and investigated by echocardiography and the serum levels of the aforementioned biomarkers were determined at baseline.
Results
The mean EF was 53.63 ± 8%, the mean GLS was -10.2 ± 5.3%, the mean E/e' ratio was 9.8 ± 4.3, and the mean left atrial volume indexed (LAVI) was 45.8 ± 14.2 mL/m2. The average levels for PICP, P3NP, and Gal-3 were 457.2 ± 240 µg/L, 242 ± 199.9 µg/L, and 10.7 ± 3.7 ng/mL, respectively. In regression analysis, PICP was strongly associated with all four echocardiographic parameters (EF: p = 0.0002, R2 = 0.69; GLS: p = 0.00001, R2 = 0.81; mean E/e': p = 0.00002; R2 = 0.89; LAVI: p = 0.003; R2 = 0.73). P3NP and Gal-3 were only associated with the EF (p = 0.01, R2 = 0.31 and p = 0.02; R2 = 0.35, respectively).