Research calls for more recognition of disparities, socioeconomic drivers of CKD mortality
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Interventions curbing particulate matter pollutions of less than 2.5 microns may reduce chronic kidney disease mortality in socioeconomically deprived areas, according to data published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.
“Our findings call for increased recognition of geographical disparities in CKD mortality and their socio-environmental drivers,” Issam Motairek, MD, and colleagues wrote in their study. “Interventions curbing [particulate matter] PM2.5 pollutions may be most impactful to reduce CKD mortality in socioeconomically deprived areas.”
The cross-sectional study linked the Social Deprivation Index (SDI) and chronic PM2.5 exposures with data from 1999 to 2019 regarding county-level age-adjusted CKD mortality. Researchers used the 2015 SDI, which incorporated American Community Survey estimates for factors such as low income, low education, non-employment, lack of car ownership, crowded housing, renter-occupied housing and single-parent family homes.
Researchers analyzed 469,933 deaths due to CKD across 2,304 U.S. counties. Mean age-adjusted CKD mortality was 7.70 deaths per 100,000 person-years. Investigators found significant regional variation in age-adjusted CKD mortality and in PM2.5. Researchers discovered higher PM2.5 exposure among counties with high social deprivation and found “significant overlap in PM2.5 levels between the groups.”
Motairek and colleagues found the link between PM2.5 and CKD mortality was strongest among counties with the highest SDI compared with those that had the lowest SDI. Despite adjustments for social deprivation, PM2.5 was found to be associated with age-adjusted CKD mortality.
Socially deprived areas may be disproportionately impacted by air pollution, the researchers wrote, noting that health care access, behavioral risk factors and work-related exposures may be some factors that drive the disproportionate increase in PM2.5-related CKD mortality.
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Motairek I, et al. Am J Kidney Dis. 2022;doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2022.09.015
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