Abstract
Premature coronary artery disease is believed to be a major cause of death in patients undergoing long-term haemodialysis. We investigated the effects of chronic maintenance haemodialysis on lipid, lipoprotein and apolipoprotein levels of 42 black patients with chronic renal failure and compared them with those of 40 age- and sex-matched black controls to determine the changes in the lipoprotein profile and their possible contributions to increased risk of coronary heart disease in these patients. There were increases in triglyceride levels and in total/high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratios and decreases in high density lipoprotein cholesterol, in LDL cholesterol, in apolipoprotein AI and in apolipoprotein All in haemodialysis patients in comparison to controls. No significant differences were observed in any of the lipid, lipoprotein and apolipoprotein levels between male and female patients and between patients receiving anti-hypertensive therapy and those who were not. Our findings suggest that haemodialysis and/or events associated with maintenance dialysis may contribute to unfavourable variations in lipoprotein metabolism and, in turn, the increased mortality from coronary artery disease in this patient population.