Plasma Concentrations of Cystatin C in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease and Risk for Secondary Cardiovascular Events: More than Simply a Marker of Glomerular Filtration Rate

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Abstract
Background: Renal impairment (RI) is associated with worse prognosis. Recently, cystatin C has been shown to represent a potentially superior marker of the glomerular filtration rate compared with creatinine clearance (CrCl). We evaluated the impact of cystatin C and other markers of RI on prognosis in a large cohort of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: Cystatin C, creatinine (Cr), and CrCl were determined at baseline in a cohort of 1033 patients (30–70 years) with CHD. Patients were followed for a mean of 33.5 months, and a combined endpoint [fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular disease (CVD) events] was used as the outcome variable. Cystatin C was measured by immunonephelometry, and CrCl was calculated. Results: During follow-up, 71 patients (6.9%) experienced a secondary CVD event. Neither Cr (P = 0.63) nor CrCl (P = 0.10) were associated with incidence of CVD events, whereas cystatin C was clearly associated with risk of secondary CVD events (P Conclusions: These data support the possibly important prognostic value of cystatin C among patients with known CHD and suggest that it may be a useful clinical marker providing complementary information to established risk determinants.