Chronic kidney disease and its complications are not just a threat to seniors. A new analysis of studies by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium found that people with the disease face a significantly greater risk of death, regardless of their age.
The research, presented at a meeting of the American Society of Nephrology in San Diego, showed the rate of chronic kidney disease increases dramatically with age — striking about 4 percent of people in their 20s and 30s, and about 54 percent of adults over age 75.
But Johns Hopkins researchers, who analyzed the results of 46 studies involving more than 2 million people since 1972, found the condition increased the risk of early death and kidney failure regardless of age.
"By collaborating with many of the world's leading studies, we were able to see a clear pattern showing that both of the current indicators of chronic kidney disease are strongly associated with risk," said lead researcher Dr. Josef Coresh, a professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology.
The studies were analyzed by approximately 200 collaborators and involved data from 40 countries, included those in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America.
"This analysis put to bed the controversy about kidney disease among older adults and the hypothesis that chronic kidney disease is so common at old age that it must be 'normal,' ” added Stein Hallan, a nephrologist from Norway. “Instead we need to focus on the range of risks at each age and potential strategies to help patients minimize unnecessary exposure to medications toxic to the kidney and pursue other strategies to best treat kidney disease across the full age spectrum."
The study was funded, in part, by the U.S. National Kidney Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.