Kaiser Permanente Research: Even Mild Kidney Disease Increases Risk Of Heart Attack Or Death (9.21.04)

Oakland, CA—Chronic kidney disease—even asymptomatic forms of the disease—increases a person’s risk of heart disease, stroke, or death, according to researchers with Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research in a paper published in the September 23, 2004 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“What we found was that the risk of death and cardiovascular disease increased as kidney function declined,” says lead author Dr. Alan S. Go. “Even at relatively modest levels of kidney disease—at a level that a person may not know they have it—the risk increased significantly.”
The retrospective cohort study evaluated the histories of more than 1.1 million adults who were patients of Kaiser Permanente between 1996 and 2000. The average age of the group studied was 52 years; 55% of the group was female.

As the ability of the kidneys to filter out the body’s toxins decreased, also known as the glomerular filtration rate or GFR, the risk of death increased proportionally. At a modest level of dysfunction¹, the risk of death was increased by 17%, while at the lowest levels², the risk increased nearly sixfold.

“The most important message to take away from this study is that patients who are at any risk of kidney disease—because of family history, high blood pressure, or diabetes—should be screened by their doctors to measure their kidney function. Caught early, kidney disease can be managed through diet and medication and these risks can hopefully be lowered.”
The website of the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/) has information about kidney disease, its causes and treatments.

Kaiser Permanente has research departments in California, Oregon, Hawaii, Georgia, Colorado, Maryland, and Ohio. Results of research conducted by Kaiser Permanente physicians and investigators have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine (http://content.nejm.org/), the Permanente Journal, the American Journal of Public Health, Pediatrics, and other clinical journals. Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a not-for-profit, group practice prepayment program with headquarters in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of over 8.3 million members in 9 states and the District of Columbia. Today it encompasses Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the Permanente Medical Groups, as well as an affiliation with Group Health Cooperative based in Seattle.

Nationwide, Kaiser Permanente includes approximately 134,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and 11,000 physicians representing all specialties

Dr. Alan S. Go, M.D. is available for interviews through Laura H. Marshall, 510-271-5826 or cell 510-847-8631.

For more information, call:
Laura H. Marshall
Kaiser Permanente
510-271-5826
Laura.H.Marshall@kp.org

Maureen.McInaney@kp.org