Carotid artery wall shear stress is independently correlated with renal function in the elderly

// Yuqi Guo 1 , Fang Wei 2 , Juan Wang 3 , Yingxin Zhao 1 , Shangwen Sun 1 , Hua Zhang 1 and Zhendong Liu 1 1 Cardio-Cerebrovascular Control and Research Center, Institute of Basic Medicine, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, Shandong 250062, China 2 Department of Cardiology, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250013, China 3 Department of Cardiology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250000, China Correspondence to: Zhendong Liu, email: zhendongliu876@126.com Keywords: hemodynamic; wall shear stress; endothelial function; renal function; chronic kidney disease Received: July 04, 2017 Accepted: December 27, 2017 Published: January 02, 2018 ABSTRACT Hemodynamic has increasingly been regarded as an important factor of renal function. However, the relationship between carotid artery wall shear stress (WSS) and renal function is not clarified. To investigate the relationship between carotid WSS and renal function, we recruited 761 older subjects aged 60 years and over from community-dwelling in the Shandong area, China. Carotid WSS, endothelial function, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were assessed in all subjects. Subjects were grouped by the interquartile of the carotid artery mean WSS. We found that the eGFRs derived from serum creatinine and/or cystatin C using three CKD-EPI equations were significantly higher and albumin/creatinine ratio was lower in the higher interquartile groups than in the lower interquartile groups ( P <0.05). The mean WSS was independently correlated with eGFRs even after adjustment for confounders. Similar findings were found between carotid artery peak WSS and eGFRs and albumin/creatinine ratio. In addition, we found that endothelial function was strongly related to carotid WSS and renal function after adjustment for confounders. In conclusion, there is an independent correlation of carotid WSS with renal function in the elderly. The local rheologic forces may play an important role in renal function changing. The correlation may be mediated by regulation of endothelial function.