Klotho and lean mass as novel cardiovascular risk factors in hemodialysis patients

Background. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) present a higher risk of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality compared with the general population. While there are several well-established traditional CV risk factors, few studies have addressed novel potential risk factors such as alpha-Klotho, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and lean mass.Methods. This was an observational, prospective, single-center, cohort study that included prevalent hemodialysis (online hemodiafiltration) adult patients. By univariate logistic regression models, univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, and Kaplan-Meier analysis, we evaluated the association between the levels of alpha-Klotho, ADMA and lean mass, with the risk of peripheral vascular disease (PVD), CV events and all-cause mortality in these patients.Results. A total of 200 HD patients was included. We found that increased levels of log-alpha-Klotho were significantly associated with decreased odds of both PVD [odds ratio (OR) 0.521, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.270-0.954, P = .034] and CV events (OR 0.415, 95% CI 0.203-0.790, P = .01), whereas increased levels of log-ADMA were only significantly associated with increased odds of PVD (OR 13.482, 95% CI 5.055-41.606, P < .001). We also found that the levels of log-alpha-Klotho (HR 0.357, 95% CI 0.140-0.906, P < .05) and lean mass (HR 0.187, 95% CI 0.042-0.829, P < .05), but not log-ADMA, were significantly associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, even after adjusting for possible confounding variables.Conclusions. Novel long-term clinical associations were generated that support alpha-Klotho and lean mass as novel CV risk factors in hemodialysis patients.