Serum vaspin: as a predictor of ischemic heart disease in Egyptian hemodialysis patients

Background Vaspin is a compensatory adipokine with anti-inflammatory properties that can improve insulin sensitivity and plays a cardioprotective role. Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of vaspin in patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis (HD) and to determine whether it has any relation to the presence of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in these patients. Patients and methods The study was carried out on 45 HD patients who were divided into 15 patients with risk factors of developing IHD (group I) and 30 patients (group II) proved to have IHD by echocardiography and ECG compared with 20 healthy individuals (group III). Results We found that the mean±SD of serum vaspin was significantly lower in HD patients with IHD (0.57±0.27) ng/ml compared with the control group (0.74±0.20) ng/ml and there was a negative correlation between serum vaspin and serum creatinine in group I and group II. Also, an receiver operating characteristics study for patients with IHD (group II) yielded a vaspin cut-off value of 0.410 ng/ml with a sensitivity of 40%, a specificity of 100%, a positive predictive value of 100%, and an negative predictive value of 53%, whereas the cut-off value for serum vaspin was 0.485 ng/ml in patients at risk of developing IHD, with a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 85%, a positive predictive value of 83%, and an negative predictive value of 100%. Conclusion Lower vaspin level is associated independently with IHD in HD patients and can be used as a predictor of IHD in patients with end-stage renal disease