Background and Objectives: Kidney dysfunction has been associated with arterial stiffening, but the relationship may depend on shared cardiometabolic and haemody-namic factors. This study examined the association between estimated glomerular fil-tration rate (eGFR) and local carotid arterial stiffness in adults with a high prevalence of diabetes and hypertension. Materials and Methods: This single-centre cross-sectional study included 135 adults. Local carotid pulse wave velocity derived from the beta stiffness index (PWVβ) was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were the beta stiffness index, pressure–strain elastic modulus, arterial compliance, and augmentation index. Multivariable linear regression evaluated associations with eGFR, age, sex, dia-betes, and hypertension. Separate models replaced hypertension status with peripheral or central aortic systolic blood pressure. Results: Mean age was 57.4 ± 7.4 years, and mean eGFR was 83.3 ± 20.0 mL/min/1.73 m². PWVβ differed across the four diabetes–hypertension groups (p < 0.001). In the primary model, based on 117 participants, higher PWVβ was associated with age, diabetes, and hypertension. There was no evidence of an independent association between eGFR and PWVβ (B = −0.003 per mL/min/1.73 m²; 95% confidence interval, −0.014 to 0.009; p = 0.676). eGFR was also not associated with the secondary outcomes. Peripheral and central aortic systolic blood pressure were positively associated with PWVβ in separate adjusted models. Conclusion: In this cardiometabolic risk population, eGFR was not independently associated with local carotid arterial stiffness. Age, diabetes, and blood pressure were associated with higher PWVβ. The findings concern contemporaneous associations and should not be extrapolated to ad-vanced chronic kidney disease or interpreted as excluding a longitudinal relationship between kidney function and vascular stiffness.

Renal abnormalities are increasingly recognized in transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia, but evidence on intrarenal Doppler indices remains limited. This single-center case–control study compared the resistive index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) in 44 patients aged 7–57 years and 30 apparently healthy controls aged 7–45 years. Three interlobar arterial measurements from each kidney were averaged for each participant. Group differences were evaluated using Welch’s t-test, and receiver operating characteristic analysis assessed discrimination between thalassemia and control status. Mean RI was higher in patients than controls (0.6789 ± 0.0500 versus 0.5943 ± 0.0440; mean difference, 0.0846; 95% confidence interval, 0.0626–0.1066). Mean PI was also higher (1.1655 ± 0.1824 versus 0.9197 ± 0.1290; mean difference, 0.2458; 95% confidence interval, 0.1736–0.3180). Both differences were significant (p < 0.001), with Hedges’ g values of 1.76 and 1.49, respectively. Areas under the curve were 0.895 for RI and 0.865 for PI. These findings indicate altered intrarenal hemodynamics in transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia. Without an independent kidney-injury reference standard or adjustment for potential confounders, they do not establish either index as a diagnostic marker of kidney injury.