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Factors linked to CV health promotion may also protect kidneys
Following the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 health metric for ideal CV health may also reduce risk for chronic kidney disease, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“This study was the first to show that for people who are generally healthy, a higher number of ideal Life’s Simple 7 health factors is associated with a reduced risk of new-onset kidney disease,” Casey M. Rebholz, PhD, MPH, MS, assistant professor of epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a press release.
Casey M. Rebholz
Rebholz and colleagues analyzed data of 14,832 adults aged 45 to 64 years from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study to analyze the relationship between CV health factors — no smoking, healthy diet, maintaining healthy weight and healthy cholesterol, BP and blood glucose levels, as well as being physically active — and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
First, the researchers categorized participants by whether each health factor was poor, intermediate or ideal.
More than 72% of the participants met the no smoking criteria, but only 6.2% achieved the ideal healthy dietary pattern. Nearly 3% of the study participants did not meet any of the ideal criteria; however, more than half of the study participants met at least two or three ideal health factors.
The researchers then followed study participants for approximately 22 years. The primary endpoint was the development of CKD.
According to the results, 2,743 patients developed CKD. Those categorized as having intermediate or ideal levels of CV health factors for smoking, BMI, physical activity, BP and fasting blood glucose (P < .01 for trend) had lower risk for CKD. The lowest HRs were observed for ideal levels of fasting blood glucose (HR for ideal = 0.37; 95% CI, 0.33-0.41; HR for intermediate = 0.4; 95% CI, 0.36-0.45) and BP (HR for ideal = 0.5; 95% CI, 0.44-0.56; HR for intermediate = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.67-0.81). No significant relationships were seen between CKD and healthy diet score or total cholesterol level.
Compared with achieving no ideal health factors, achieving six or seven was associated with an 81% reduction of risk for CKD (HR = 0.19; 95% CI, 0.12-0.29).
“The shared underlying processes leading to the development of CV and kidney disease suggests that Life’s Simple 7 might also be effective for kidney disease prevention,” Rebholz said in the release.
The researchers called for further study to better understand the relationship between certain dietary factors and kidney health. – by Tracey Romero
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.