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Study quantified lifetime risk of kidney failure

Category: Kidney Diseases

New research published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology calculates the lifetime risk of men and women being diagnosed with kidney failure through a lab test.

"Given the high morbidity and cost associated with kidney failure, we wanted to quantify the burden of disease for kidney failure in an easily understandable index to communicate information for patients, health practitioners, and policy makers," said researcher Tanvir Chowdhury Turin, M.D., Ph.D.

For their study, Turin and colleagues analyzed the medical records of nearly 3 million adults in Alberta, recorded between 1997 and 2008. All subjects were free of kidney disease at the start of the study period.

During this time frame, among adults who lived into their 90s, one in 40 men and one in 60 women developed kidney failure. For those who had reduced kidney function, the lifetime risk was 7.51 percent for men and 3.21 percent for women. By comparison, those rates were 1.01 and 0.63 percent for males and females with preserved kidney function, respectively.

Overall, men were more likely to develop kidney failure compared to women.

Adults who are uncertain of their kidney health can take a lab test that measures several markers of organ function.