RESEARCH ARTICLE
Clinical Features of Cardio-Renal Syndrome in a Cohort of Consecutive Patients Admitted to an Internal Medicine Ward
F Fabbian1, *, M Pala1, A De Giorgi1, A Scalone2, C Molino1, F Portaluppi1, D.P Mikhailidis3, R Manfredini1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 5
First Page: 220
Last Page: 225
Publisher ID: TOCMJ-5-220
DOI: 10.2174/1874192401105010220
Article History:
Received Date: 22/9/2011Acceptance Date: 13/10/2011
Electronic publication date: 18/11/2011
Collection year: 2011

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Introduction:
Cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) is a disorder of the heart and kidney whereby interactions between the 2 organs can occur. We recorded the clinical features of CRS in patients consecutively admitted to an Internal Medicine ward.
Patients and Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed the anthropometric, history, clinical, biochemical and treatment characteristics in 438 out of 2,998 subjects (14.6%) admitted to our unit (from June 2007 to December 2009), diagnosed with CRS, according to Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative (ADQI) recommendations. Estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) was calculated using several equations: MDRD (Modification of Diet in Renal Disease; 2 variations GFRMDRD186, GFRMDRD175), Mayo, Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) and Cockroft-Gault.
Results:
Mean age was 80±8 years, 222 (50.6%) were males, 321 (73.2%) were smokers, 229 (52.2%) were diabetic, 207 (47.2%) had a history of acute myocardial infarction, 167 (38.1%) had angina, 135 (30.8%) were affected by cerebrovascular disease, 339 (77.3%) had peripheral arterial disease. CRS was type 1 in 211 cases (48.2%), type 2 in 96 (21.9%), type 3 in 88 (20.1%), type 4 in 29 (6.6%) and type 5 in 14 (3.2%). eGFR, calculated by different formulae, ranged between 31 and 36 ml/min/1.73 m2. GFR was lower in CRS type 3 than in the other types, and the values ranged between 24 and 27 ml/min/1.73 m2. Mean hospital length-of-stay (LOS) was 9.8±6.3 days. Diuretics were the most prescribed medication (78.7%); only 5 patients underwent haemodialysis.
Conclusions:
CRS is common, especially in the elderly. CRS Type 1 was the prevalent subset and patients had stage 3-4 renal insufficiency. Results obtained from the GFR equations were similar although the Mayo equation tended to overestimate the eGFR.