Prevalence and Predictors of Aortic Valve Sclerosis in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients Walid Ahmed Ragab Abdelhamid

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) is a serious public health issue, particularly among the elderly. It is linked to higher rates of acute cardiovascular events. In addition, cardiovascular diseases are common in chronic hemodialysis patients. Objective: To find out the prevalence of AVS in chronic hemodialysis patients and assess risk factors for AVS in these patients. Patients and Methods: The research involved 58 chronic hemodialysis patients from December 2019 to December 2020. They were categorized into group 1 (22 subjects) who did not have AVS and group 2 (36 subjects) who had AVS. Demographic data were gathered from all patients. Laboratory investigations and echocardiographic examinations were done for all the subjects. Results: Group 2 was older than group 1 (p = 0.002). In addition, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was higher in group 1 than in group 2 (p = 0.011). In contrast, group 2 had lower serum creatinine, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) than group 1 (p = 0.049, p = 0.038, p = 0.01, and p = 0.01, respectively). On multivariate regression analysis, greater age (p = 0.014), lower DBP (p = 0.049), and lower MCH (p = 0.011) were significantly predictive of AVS. Conclusion: 37.9% of hemodialysis patients had AVS in this study and the predictors for AVS included older age, lower DBP, and lower MCH.