The recent literature has put a large interest on nutraceuticals with lipid lowering activity for the management
of moderate cholesterolemia in subjects with mildly increased cardiovascular disease risk. The aim of our study was to
evaluate the middle-term effect of a combined lipid-lowering nutraceutical on lipid parameters and aortic stiffness.
For this study we consecutively enrolled 40 moderately hypercholesterolemic outpatients with mild-to-moderate chronic
kidney disease (CKD) and 40 cross-matched hypercholesterolemic subjects without CKD. All the patient were treated
daily with a combined nutraceutical containing red yeast rice (3 mg monacolin K) and berberine (500 mg). At the baseline
and after 6 months of treatment we measured blood pressure, pulse wave velocity (PWV) and ematochemistry parameters.
No significant change has been observed during the study in both groups regarding body mass index, blood pressure, liver
transaminases, creatinin-phosfokinase and eGFR.
In non CKD patients TC improved by (-21,6%), LDL-Cholesterol by (-24,2%), non HDL-Cholesterol (-24,0%) and TG (-
20,8%).
In CKD patients TC improved by (-21,1%), LDL-Cholesterol by (-23,7%), non HDL-Cholesterol (-23,9%) and TG (-
20,4%).
No difference among groups has been observed regarding the effects on lipid metabolism.
The PWV has significantly improved in both groups (p<0.01) without differences between groups.
In summary, a combined lipid-lowering nutraceutical improved lipid pattern and PWV in both non CKD and mild-tomoderate
CKD patients.
CAROTID-FEMORAL PULSE WAVE VELOCITY, PULSE WAVE ANALYSIS AND 24-HOUR AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE MEASUREMENT IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE
