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Aim. Height is an important determinant of augmentation index (AI) that anticipates cardiovascular prognosis. There is a scanty of the data whether short height predicts survival in patients with end-stage renal diseases, a high risk population. Methods. Fifty two hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy receiving hemodialysis and 52 patients with nondiabetic nephropathy were enrolled. In addition to AI estimated with radial artery tonometry, classical cardiovascular risk factors were considered. Patients were followed for 2 years to assess cardiovascular prognosis. Results. Cox hazards regression revealed that both smoking and shortness in height independently contributed to total mortality and indicated that smoking as well as the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy predicted cardiovascular mortality. Our findings implicated that high AI, the presence of diabetes, and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significant contributors to cardiovascular events. Conclusions. Our findings provide new evidence that shortness in height independently contributes to total mortality in hemodialysis patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertension is a well-known cardiovascular risk. Patients with end-stage renal diseases frequently suffer hypertension, and their blood pressure elevates in winter. However, seasonal changes in daily variations of blood pressure are poorly assessed in patients treated with hemodialysis. Thirty hypertensive patients with end-stage renal diseases were enrolled in the study. Dry weight and antihypertensive medications were altered when they were necessary. Home blood pressure measurements were performed at least for 1 week in each season; April–May 2008, July–August 2008, October–November 2008, and January–February 2009. Both morning and evening systolic blood pressures (SBPs) showed significant seasonal changes ( p < 0.01), with the highest blood pressure in winter (162 ± 18 and 135 ± 22 mmHg in morning and evening). Morning diastolic blood pressure (DBP) also exhibited seasonal changes ( p < 0.05), with the highest blood pressure in fall ( 78 ± 8 mmHg). Evening DBP did not manifest seasonal deviations. Morning-evening differences in SBP and DBP were the greatest in winter (28 ± 21 and 10 ± 9 mmHg in SBP and DBP, p < 0.01), and the smallest in summer (16 ± 12 and 6 ± 5 mmHg). Daily variations of SBP and DBPs in spring (19 ± 12 and 7 ± 6 mmHg) and fall (20 ± 13 and 9 ± 8 mmHg) were between those of summer and winter. Our results indicate that not only averaged blood pressure but also variations of blood pressure in winter are larger than the other seasons, and suggest that these blood pressure variations participate in cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients with end-stage renal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]