Relationship between visfatin and some clinical and biochemical parametres in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Objective: To characterise the relationship between visfatin levels and various clinical and biochemical parameters in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Methods: The case-control study was conducted at the Medical Faculty Hospital, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey, between May 2007 and December 2008, and involving 41 patients on peritoneal dialysis, 20 haemodialysis patients and 20 healthy controls. Fasting visfatin level was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorpent assay (ELISA) method, and patients on peritoneal dialysis were separated into two groups according to the visfatin levels - high and low. The groups were compared in terms of some clinical (height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist/hip ratio, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the kt/V and CrCI (creatanine clearance) parameters which are indicative of the dialysis adequacy) and biochemical parameters (glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transminase, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, total protein, albumin, globulin, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, ferritin, venous blood gas, parathyroid hormone and insulin). SPSS 15 was used for statistcal analysis.

Results: No statistically significant difference in the visfatin levels was found between the patients and controls (7.71 +/- 4.04, 7.36 +/- 3.71, 7.70 +/- 1.61, respectively, p = 0.63). The triglyceride level of the high-visfatin group was significantly higher than that of the low-visfatin group (243.8 +/- 133.2, 150.8 +/- 65.8, respectively, p<0.05). However, there was no correlation between visfatin and triglyceride levels. No difference in the other clinical and biochemical parametres was observed between the two groups of peritoneal dialysis patients.

Conclusions: No significant difference in the serum visfatin levels of peritoneal dialysis patients compared to haemodialysis patients or healthy individuals was noticed. Further studies are needed to confirm the effect of visfatin on triglyceride levels, and, if confirmed, the mechanism of this relation.