Hyperphosphatemia Raises Proteinuria Risk in CKD Patients

Hyperphosphatemia and high cholesterol are associated with overt proteinuria in non-diabetics patients with late-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD), researchers have found.

A team led by Yi-Chun Liu, MD, of Yuan’s General Hospital in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, studied 418 non-diabetic patients with CKD stage 3-5. Their mean age was 66.7 years. Serum phosphorus levels of 4.3 mg/dL or higher were associated with a fourfold increased likelihood of overt proteinuria compared with levels below 3.3 mg/dL, according to an online report in International Urology and Nephrology. In addition, hypercholesterolemia (217 mg/dL or higher) was associated with a 3.6 times increased odds of overt proteinuria compared with levels of 158-184 mg/dL.

“Further studies should clarify whether this relation is causal and whether serum phosphorus level should be a new therapeutic target for proteinuria reduction,” the authors concluded.