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C ardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among patients who are on dialysis. CVD mortality rates are approximately 10 to 30 times higher in patients who are on dialysis than in the general population, despite stratification for gender, race, and the presence of diabetes (1). It was recognized recently that earlier stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD) also is a risk factor for CVD mortality (2-7). In particular, this risk has been noted in patients who already have some form of CVD or in individuals who are at high risk for the development of CVD (2-7). In low-risk populations or community studies, the relationship between the level of kidney function and outcomes has not been as clear (8 -11).The relationship between early stages of CKD and CVD, to the best of our knowledge, has never been tested in a community-based Chinese population, in whom genetic and environmental backgrounds are different from those of Western countries, and the profile of CVD is very different from that of white individuals (12,13). Therefore, we initiated this cross-sectional study among a population older than 40 yr in a metropolis of China to investigate the prevalence and the spectrum of CVD in residents with early-stage CKD and compare them with data of residents without CKD. Materials and Methods PopulationAll residents who were 40 yr or older and were served by a community hospital located in an urban district of Beijing were invited to participate in the study. Residents were contacted by telephone using their data that were available in the hospital and notified of the screening protocol by the local general practitioner from Definition of CVDAll participants were asked, "Have you ever been told by a doctor that you had a heart attack?" and, "Have you ever been told by a doctor that you had a stroke?" Participants with an affirmative answer to either of these questions were deemed as having CVD. Definition of CKDSerum creatinine (Scr) was measured by means of enzymatic method on a Hitachi 7170 autoanalyzer (Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan). In addition, Scr of 57 fresh frozen serum samples (Scr range 0.42 to 16.89 mg/dl) were analyzed in both our laboratory and the Cleveland Clinic Laboratory to ensure that Scr values in this study are equally calibrated with the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) study. A calibration equation was generated from the results (R 2 ϭ 0.998): MDRD Scr (mg/dl) ϭ 1.05 ϫ [Beijing Scr (mg/dl)] Ϫ 0.22.

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