Trial Lecture – time and place
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Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Clinical Research Associate Professor Mads Hornum, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- Second opponent: Consultant Eirik Søfteland, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor II Kristin Bjørnland, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Associate Professor Elisabeth Qvigstad, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Professor II Trond Jenssen, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo
Summary
Hyperglycemia and arterial stiffness are known risk factors for adverse outcomes after kidney transplantation.
In this thesis associations between visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and these risk factors were assessed; VAT and hyperglycemia at 8 weeks and 1 year (paper I, II), and VAT and arterial stiffness at 8 weeks after transplantation (paper III). VAT content was measured with a software applied on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans, arterial stiffness as pulse wave velocity (PWV), hyperglycemia by oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT).
VAT was associated more closely to impaired glucose metabolism than body mass index (BMI), and VAT was found as a risk factor for increased arterial stiffness while BMI was not. VAT was more strongly associated with glucose indices at 1 year than 8 weeks, possibly related to that immunosuppressive medication, which are high early post-transplant, might overshadow the effect on glucose metabolism early after transplantation, while the importance of metabolic factors including VAT appears more clearly later.
The thesis pinpoints the role of VAT in post-transplant hyperglycemia and arterial stiffness, and encourages studies on lifestyle interventions.
Additional information
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