Declining kidney function may enhance risk for heart attack, peripheral arterial disease
Never remain indifferent to or neglect kidney, these are vital organs of a human body and any disorder may lead to perilous situations. We have heard these types of advices long and there are, if truth be told, enough reasons behind it. Kidneys are basically paired organs, which have the production of urine as their primary function.
Kidneys are seen in many types of animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates and are an essential part of the urinary system, but have several secondary functions concerned with homeostatic functions. These include the regulation of electrolytes, acid-base balance, and blood pressure. In producing urine, the kidneys excrete wastes such as urea and ammonium; the kidneys also are responsible for the reabsorption of glucose and amino acids.
Now, as per a new study conducted under the auspices of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, declining kidney function may enhance an individual’s risk for heart attack, peripheral arterial disease and early death even among those without kidney disease. The study did make a detailed examination of changes in kidney function over time and is one of two new studies examining the connection between declining kidney function and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. It is to be noted that both were published November 5 in the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).“In contrast to the large number of studies documenting an association between baseline kidney function and future cardiovascular events, little is known about whether sequential changes in kidney function are associated with future risk. We, for the first time, investigated this association in a middle-aged population in the U.S. Since clinicians often monitor kidney function over a period of years, we think our findings are clinically relevant,” said Kunihiro Matsushita, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and a post doctoral fellow at with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology.
The examination was conducted among 13,029 participants of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) and a meticulous analysis of the data determined that a large reduction in kidney function over time was closely linked with an increased risk of developing heart disease and early death regardless of the initial kidney function level. A 5.6 percent per year drop in kidney function was associated with a 30 percent increased risk of developing coronary heart disease and a 22 percent increased risk of premature death compared to patients with stable kidney function.
By » Dan Walter on 2009-11-07 18:06:55