Fibroblast growth factor-23 correlates with advanced disease conditions and predicts high risk of major adverse cardiac and cerebral events in end-stage renal disease patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the correlation of serum fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) level with clinical indexes, in particular to explore the value of FGF-23 in predicting major adverse cardiac and cerebral event (MACCE) risk in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).
METHODS: In 270 ESRD patients undergoing CAPD consecutively enrolled in this prospective cohort study, we collected serum samples and performed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect FGF-23 expression. MACCE-free survival was defined as the date from enrollment to the date of MACCE occurrence.
RESULTS: High levels of FGF-23 correlated with longer duration of dialysis (p = 0.002), elevated levels of calcium (p < 0.001), phosphorus (p = 0.037) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (p = 0.027). MACCE occurrence rate was higher in the FGF-23 high-expression than low-expression group at 2 years (p = 0.028), 3 years (p = 0.001) and 4 years (p = 0.004). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that MACCE-free survival was shorter in the FGF-23 high-expression than low-expression group (p = 0.004). Multivariate Cox's analysis showed that high FGF-23 expression (p = 0.011) as well as the duration of dialysis (p = 0.017), C-reactive protein (p = 0.011) and fasting blood glucose (p = 0.038) were independent predictive factors for reduced MACCE-free survival in ESRD patients undergoing CAPD.
CONCLUSION: High FGF-23 expression correlates with advanced disease conditions as well as increased MACCE risk, and is an independent factor predicting worse MACCE-free survival in ESRD patients undergoing CAPD.