Impaired renal allograft function is associated with increased arterial stiffness in renal transplant recipients

It is important whether impairment of renal allograft function may deteriorate arterial stiffness in renal transplant recipients. In a cross-sectional study, arterial vascular characteristics were non-invasively determined in 48 patients with renal allograft using applanation tonometry and digital photoplethysmography. Mean age was 51 +/- 2 years (mean +/- SEM), and studies were performed 17 +/- 1 months after transplantation. The stage of chronic kidney disease was based on the glomerular filtration rate. We observed a significant association between the stage of chronic kidney disease and arterial stiffness of large arteries S1 and small arteries S2 in renal transplant recipients (each p < 0.05 by non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test between groups). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that male gender of patients with renal allograft (p < 0.01) reduced glomerular filtration rate (p = 0.01), and older age of kidney donor (p = 0.04) were independently associated with an increase of large artery stiffness S1. Furthermore, a significant association between the stage of chronic kidney disease and arterial vascular reactivity during reactive hyperemia was observed (p < 0.05 by non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test between groups). It is concluded that impairment of renal allograft function is associated with an increased arterial stiffness in renal transplant recipients.