Cardiorenal MedicineNov 9, 2026, 20:19 GMT

Four conditions linked to higher heart risk in kidney disease

Four conditions versus two were linked to almost twice the risk of major cardiovascular events, while kidney risk was linked to specific disease combinations, particularly involving diabetes.

Paper by William R. Marshall, Rajkumar Chinnadurai, Darren Green, Smeeta Sinha, Philip A. Kalra · University of Manchester

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Populations

Studied:: Cohort study of 2,003 adults with chronic kidney disease, median 4.7 years, against 2 CKM conditions
What changed:: Risk of major cardiovascular events was higher with 4 conditions than with 2 CKM conditions (HR 1.93, 95% CI: 1.48-2.53)
The catch:: Adjusted analyses excluded 307 participants with missing urine-protein data
In the record:: The 2,391st paper on cardiovascular disease with results in people; 13,423 on record in all. Its result on mortality agrees with 50 of 52 other findings on record; 2 found no change.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

The 2,003 adults in the Salford Kidney Study had chronic kidney disease, were not on dialysis and had at least one of cardiovascular disease, diabetes or obesity. Their mean age was 68, and 64.9% were male. The retrospective observational cohort study followed them for a median of 4.7 years.

Major cardiovascular events occurred in 13.9% of participants. These included cardiovascular death, nonfatal heart attack or stroke, and heart failure events. Participants with all four conditions had the highest cardiovascular risk. Diabetes-containing combinations were linked to greater risk of a combined kidney outcome covering worsening kidney function, dialysis or transplantation. Overall, 50.4% reached this kidney outcome. The number of conditions alone did little to distinguish kidney risk. More conditions were also linked to higher mortality.

Why it matters

For people facing chronic kidney disease in later life, the authors suggested that accounting for specific combinations of illnesses may improve risk assessment.

Caveats

Disease combinations were recorded only at entry, and adjusted analyses excluded 307 participants with missing urine-protein data. Participants received specialist kidney care at one hospital, limiting how broadly the findings apply.