ESRD More Likely than Death for Patients with Diabetic Nephropathy

Patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy are more likely to progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) than die, according to investigators.

In a retrospective study of 3,228 adults with type 2 diabetic nephropathy, ESRD developed in 19.5% of subjects over a mean follow-up period of 2.8 years, which was 2.5 times the incidence of cardiovascular death and 1.5 times the incidence of all-cause mortality, researchers reported online in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

A team led by Hiddo J. Labers Heerspink, PharmD, PhD, of the University Medical Center Groningen in Groningen, the Netherlands, concluded that their findings have implications for predicting future renal replacement requirements because of the rapidly increasing number of cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide.

The study found that ESRD occurred more commonly than cardiovascular death in all subgroups analyzed, except for subjects with low levels of albuminuria and well-preserved levels of renal function.

From the January 01, 2012 Issue of Renal and Urology News