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Table 1 Study selection criteria

From: The impact of intervention strategies that target arterial stiffness in end-stage renal disease: a systematic review protocol

Descriptor

Inclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria

Patient population

Adults (≥18 years old) with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) defined as stage 5 chronic kidney disease (e-GFR <15 ml/min/1.73 m2) of any duration and receiving or not any renal replacement therapy. Kidney transplant recipients who are not on dialysis therapy will be included if they had pre- and post-transplant assessments of their cf-PWV.

Chronic kidney disease stages 1 to 4

Population-based studies that do not include ESRD patients

Non-human studies

Pediatric populations (<18 years of age)

Kidney transplant patients without any assessment of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity before transplantation

Intervention

Any pharmacologic or non-pharmacologic intervention whose primary effect is to improve the structural (qualitative and quantitative) and/or dynamic components of arterial stiffness. This will include interventions aimed to control blood pressure or vascular inflammation, to limit the progression of vascular calcification or atherosclerosis, and to improve extra-cellular volume fluctuations, renal replacement therapy, and advanced glycation end products.

 

Comparator

A different intervention, placebo, control group, or patients exposed to standard care ESRD management

 

Outcome

Primary outcome: reduction on the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity defined by pulse wave measurements on the carotid and femoral arteries using previously validated instrumentation and proper methodological technique. Secondary outcomes will include the following estimates associated with each intervention: (a) minimal duration needed to achieve a significant reduction of cf-PWV; (b) minimal cf-PWV reduction threshold or effect size; and (c) any reported serious or non-serious adverse events.

Studies that exclusively report on different markers of arterial stiffness such as brachial-ankle PWV, ankle-brachial index, augmentation index, carotid-brachial PWV and femoral-tibial PWV

Study design

Clinical trials and observational studies (cohort, case-control, and before and after studies and case series) (both prospective and retrospective) provided that 10 or more ESRD participants have received the intervention and its effects were assessed by cf-PWV)

Reviews, in vitro studies, mathematical models, duplicates or “sub-cohorts” of previously published cohorts

Language

English, French, Spanish, Italian

 
  1. ESRD end-stage renal disease, cf-PWV carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, e-GFR estimated glomerular filtration rate, PWV pulse wave velocity