Association of Kidney Disease, Potassium, and Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence with Coronary Arteriosclerotic Burden, by Sex

The present study aimed to determine the relationship between the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and the number and severity of coronary artery atherosclerotic lesions obtained by coronary angiography. We reviewed and analyzed 1642 records from consecutive patients at the Catheter Laboratory of Talca Regional Hospital in Chile between March 2018 and May 2019. Patients were stratified according to the presence and severity of atherosclerotic lesions: 632 (38.5%) had no lesions or <30% stenosis and 1010 (61.5%) had at least one coronary atherosclerotic lesion with ≥30% stenosis (CALS-30). CALS-30 was more frequent in males, smokers, and patients with diabetes and/or hypertension (all p-values < 0.02). Serum potassium, glycaemia, creatinine and glomerular filtration rates were also associated with CALS-30 (all p-values < 0.01) in males. The age and the proportion of males with CALS-30 increased with the number of risk factors (p-values for trends < 0.001). Our results showed a stronger association between the accumulation of risk factors and CALS-30 in women than in men. Serum potassium levels were inversely associated with CALS-30 in men but not in women.