Lower physical performance links to heart failure and death in CKD

In a study of 3,038 adults with chronic kidney disease, researchers evaluated lower-extremity physical function and subsequent clinical outcomes over a median follow-up of 8.5 years. Participants in the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort Study had a mean age of 63.5 years and completed the Short Physical Performance Battery roughly every two to three years.

Each one-point lower baseline performance score was associated with a 14% higher risk of death, but was not independently linked to heart failure or kidney failure after adjustment. In time-updated analyses capturing repeated measures, each one-point lower score was associated with a 10% higher heart failure risk and a 15% higher mortality risk. Lower performance categories were similarly tied to elevated risks for both outcomes compared with high performance. Neither baseline nor time-updated scores were independently associated with kidney failure.