Introduction: Renal artery stenosis caused by atherosclerosis is a progressive disease which may present by renal failure, acute pulmonary edema, unstable ischemic syndromes and refractory hypertension. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of renal artery stenosis and its relationship with cardiovascular risk factors in female patients undergoing coronary angiography for finding the necessity of concurrency of renal and coronary angiography.
Methods: This analytical descriptive study was carried out on 375 women in Emam Reza hospital, Mashhad, Iran, 2009-2011. Inclusion criteria were: history of being under hypertension treatment and increased intra-arterial blood pressure more than 140/90 MmHg without tachycardia and serum creatinine over than 1.5 mg/dl. Patients concurrently underwent nonselective renal angiography and coronary angiography. Demographic data, risk factors of atherosclerosis, laboratory and angiographic findings were collected in a questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software version 11.5, chi-square, independent t-test and logistic regression tests. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Prevalence of significant atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis was 20.5% in women. Among multiple atherosclerotic risk factors, hypertension and age over 65 years had significant relationship with renal artery stenosis (p<0.001) but diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia and smoking had not significant relationship with renal artery stenosis. A significant relationship was found between the number of involved coronary artery stenosis and renal artery stenosis (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Concurrency of nonselective renal angiography and coronary angiography without non invasive test for assessment of renal artery stenosis is recommended in female patients with age over 65 years, being under hypertension treatment, increased intra arterial blood pressure more than 140/90 MmHg and more than 50% coronary artery stenosis.