Vascular Calcification and Osteoprotegrin in Chronic Kidney Disease

This important question has been addressed recently by Chen et al. [5] in JAMA Cardiology . This prospective study included adults with CKD who were dialysis-naïve. The majority (80.4%) had an eGFR >30 mL/min/1.73 m 2 , so they were not only dialysis naive but also not requiring dialysis in the immediate future. The participants, who were without cardiovascular disease, were followed for a mean of 5.9 years, and all participants were measured for CAC by CT. The investigators found that the hazard ratios associated with 1 SD log of CAC were about 1.40 for cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. This relationship was found even after adjusting for traditional cardiac risk factors, including age, gender, race, physical activity, systolic blood pressure, current cigarette smoking, diabetes status, body mass index, estiHow Does Calcium Decide Where to Go?