Central venous pressure and impaired renal function in patients with acute heart failure.

Aims: To determine the relationship between central venous pressure (CVP) and renal function in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) presenting to the emergency department.

Methods And Results: Central venous pressure was determined non-invasively using compression sonography in 140 patients with AHF at presentation. Worsening renal function (WRF) was defined as an increase in serum creatinine ≥ 0.3 mg/dL during hospitalization. In the study cohort [age 77 ± 12 years, B-type natriuretic peptide 1862 ± 1564 pg/mL, left ventricular ejection fraction 40 ± 15%, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 58 ± 28 mL/min, and CVP 13.2 ± 6.9 cmH(2)O], 51 patients (36%) developed WRF. No significant association between CVP at presentation or discharge and concomitant eGFR (r = 0.005, P = 0.419 and r = 0.013, P = 0.313, respectively) was observed. However, in patients with systolic blood pressure (SBP) <110 mmHg and concomitant high CVP (>15 cmH(2)O), eGFR was significantly lower at presentation and discharge (29 ± 17 vs. 47 ± 19 mL/min/1.73 m(2), P = 0.039 and 26 ± 10 vs. 53 ± 26 mL/min/1.73 m(2), P = 0.013, respectively). Central venous pressure at presentation and at discharge did not differ between patients with or without in-hospital WRF (12.6 ± 7.2 vs. 13.5 ± 6.7 cmH(2)O, P = 0.503 and 7.4 ± 6.5 vs. 7.7 ± 5.7 cmH(2)O, P = 0.799, respectively) (receiver-operating characteristic analysis 0.543, P = 0.401 and 0.531, P = 0.625, respectively). However, patients with CVP in the lowest tertile (<10 cmH(2)O) at presentation were more likely to develop WRF within the first 24 h than patients with CVP in the highest tertile (>15 cmH(2)O) (18 vs. 4%, P = 0.046).

Conclusion: In AHF, combined low SBP and high CVP predispose to lower eGFR. However, lower CVP may also be associated with short-term WRF. The pathophysiology of WRF and the role of CVP seem to be more complex than previously thought.