. Objective: Hyperlipidemia is frequently encountered in uremic patients an
d may be worsened by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) treat
ment. The lipid abnormalities in these patients may be multifactorial. Insu
lin resistance (or its compensatory hyperinsulinemia) is commonly observed
in uremic patients, but its association;with hyperlipidemia in these patien
ts has not been studied.
. Patients and Methods: Lipid profiles of 35 nondiabetic nonobese patients
undergoing CAPD for more than 1 year (mean 52.3 months) were studied. Curre
nt laboratory data and parameters related to peritoneal dialysis (PD) withi
n the previous 3 months were recorded. After overnight fasting and interrup
tion of PD, an oral 75-g glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was examined.
. Results: After CAPD treatment for more than 12 months, these patients had
higher serum triglyceride (TG) (p = 0.001) and total cholesterol (p = 0.00
58) levels than their values before commencing CAPD. Twelve of 14 patients
with serum TG higher than 200 mg/dL (high-TG) were diagnosed de novo, in co
ntrast with only 1 patient diagnosed of de novo hypercholesterolemia (total
cholesterol > 240 mg/dL). There was no difference in age, gender, body mas
s index (BMI), duration of Po treatment, serum albumin, hematocrit, intact
serum parathyroid hormone (iPTH), peritoneal glucose load, solute transport
, or weekly Kt/V urea between normal-TG and high-TG patients. After adjusti
ng for age, gender, BMI, weekly Kt/V urea, and iPTH, the high-TG patients h
ad higher levels of area under the curve for glucose (AUC(Glu)), area under
the curve for insulin (AUC(lns)), and AUC(lns)/AUC(Glu) ratios (F = 10.63,
10.14, and 8.65; p= 0.0029, 0.0035, and 0.0065, respectively), indicating
that the high-TG patients were more insulin resistant. There were 24 patien
ts with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), and 11 patients with impaired gluco
se tolerance (IGT). The IGT group had higher serum TG (F = 10.43, p = 0.003
) and total cholesterol (F = 8.05, p = 0.009) than the NGT group, after adj
usting for BMI, duration of CAPD treatment, peritoneal glucose load, solute
transport, serum albumin, and lipid levels before PD treatment. The TG lev
els after CAPD treatment were positively correlated with AUC(Glu), AUC(lns)
, and AUC(lns)/AUC(Glu) ratio (r = 0.48, 0.53, and 0.49; p = 0.0037, 0.001,
and 0.0028, respectively).
. Conclusions: These results indicate that insulin resistance is an importa
nt factor in the development of hypertriglyceridemia in CAPD patients.