Association of Low Serum l-Carnitine Levels with Peripheral Arterial Stiffness in Patients Who Undergo Kidney Transplantation

Lai, Yu-Hsien; Lee, Ming-Che; Ho, Guan-Jin; Liu, Chin-Hung; Hsu, Bang-Gee

doi:10.3390/nu11092000

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Association of Low Serum l-Carnitine Levels with Peripheral Arterial Stiffness in Patients Who Undergo Kidney Transplantation

^1,2,†,

^3,4,†

^3,4,

^2,5,* and

^1,4,*

Division of Nephrology, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien 97004, Taiwan

Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 97004, Taiwan

Department of Surgery, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien 97004, Taiwan

⁴

School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 97004, Taiwan

⁵

Department of Pharmacology, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 97004, Taiwan

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Nutrients 2019, 11(9), 2000; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11092000

Received: 26 July 2019 / Revised: 11 August 2019 / Accepted: 22 August 2019 / Published: 24 August 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutritional Biomarkers in Health and Disease)

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Abstract

l-carnitine is an important co-factor in fatty-acid metabolism, and its deficiency is associated with insulin resistance, which is independently associated with arterial stiffness. This study evaluated the relationship between serum l-carnitine level and peripheral arterial stiffness (PAS) in kidney transplantation (KT). Fasting blood samples were collected from 65 patients who underwent KT. We measured the brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity, and 36 patients (55.4%) had PAS. Patients with PAS had a significantly higher percentage of diabetes (p = 0.001), hypertension (p = 0.033), and metabolic syndrome (p = 0.044); higher waist circumference (p = 0.010), systolic blood pressure (p = 0.002), serum triglyceride level (p = 0.040), insulin level (p = 0.002), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (p = 0.002); lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p = 0.036) and serum l-carnitine levels (p < 0.001); older age (p = 0.041); and a longer KT duration (p = 0.025) than those without PAS. Statistical analysis revealed an independent association between PAS in KT and KT duration (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.003–1.054, p = 0.029) and serum l-carnitine levels (95% CI: 0.842–0.998, p = 0.044). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve indicated that the diagnostic power of l-carnitine to predict PAS was 0.789 (95% CI: 0.670–0.881, p < 0.001). Serum-free l-carnitine level is negatively associated with PAS in patients who undergo KT. View Full-Text

Keywords: l-carnitine; peripheral arterial stiffness; kidney transplantation; brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity

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Lai, Y.-H.; Lee, M.-C.; Ho, G.-J.; Liu, C.-H.; Hsu, B.-G. Association of Low Serum l-Carnitine Levels with Peripheral Arterial Stiffness in Patients Who Undergo Kidney Transplantation. Nutrients 2019, 11, 2000. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11092000

AMA Style

Lai Y-H, Lee M-C, Ho G-J, Liu C-H, Hsu B-G. Association of Low Serum l-Carnitine Levels with Peripheral Arterial Stiffness in Patients Who Undergo Kidney Transplantation. Nutrients. 2019; 11(9):2000. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11092000

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lai, Yu-Hsien, Ming-Che Lee, Guan-Jin Ho, Chin-Hung Liu, and Bang-Gee Hsu. 2019. "Association of Low Serum l-Carnitine Levels with Peripheral Arterial Stiffness in Patients Who Undergo Kidney Transplantation" Nutrients 11, no. 9: 2000. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11092000

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Association of Low Serum l-Carnitine Levels with Peripheral Arterial Stiffness in Patients Who Undergo Kidney Transplantation

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