Early renal failure as a cardiovascular disease: Focus on lipoprotein(a) and prothrombotic state

Abstract

Patients with renal failure are at increased risk of cardiovascular events even at the earliest stages of disease. In addition to many classic cardiovascular risk factors, many conditions that are commonly identified as emerging risk factors might contribute to occurrence of cardiovascular disease. Changes in circulating levels of many of these emerging risk factors have been demonstrated in patients with early stages of renal failure caused by different types of renal disease and have been associated with detection of cardiovascular complications. However, for most of these factors evidence of benefits of correction on cardiovascular outcome is missing. In this article, we comment on the role of lipoprotein(a) and prothrombotic factors as potential contributors to cardiovascular events in patients with early renal failure.

Keywords: Early renal failure; Cardiovascular disease; Risk factors; Lipoprotein(a); Prothrombotic state

Core tip: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic renal failure and even patients with moderate impairment of renal function have an increased risk to develop cardiovascular events. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors have a leading role in the pathophysiology of accelerated atherosclerosis of patients with renal failure, but emerging non-traditional factors might also be involved. Evidence of a possible contribution of lipoprotein(a) and prothrombotic state to cardiovascular outcomes of patients with early renal failure is discussed in this editorial.