Contemporary rates and predictors of fast progression of chronic kidney disease in adults with and without diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is highly prevalent but identification of patients at high risk for fast CKD progression before reaching end-stage renal disease in the short-term has been challenging. Whether factors associated with fast progression vary by diabetes status is also not well understood. We examined a large community-based cohort of adults with CKD to identify predictors of fast progression during the first 2 years of follow-up in the presence or absence of diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Within a large integrated healthcare delivery system in northern California, we identified adults with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 30-59 ml/min/1.73 m2 by CKD-EPI equation between 2008 and 2010 who had no previous dialysis or renal transplant, who had outpatient serum creatinine values spaced 10-14 months apart and who did not initiate renal replacement therapy, die or disenroll during the first 2 years of follow-up. Through 2012, we calculated the annual rate of change in eGFR and classified patients as fast progressors if they lost > 4 ml/min/1.73 m2 per year. We used multivariable logistic regression to identify patient characteristics that were independently associated with fast CKD progression stratified by diabetes status. RESULTS: We identified 36,195 eligible adults with eGFR 30-59 ml/min/1.73 m2 and mean age 73 years, 55% women, 11% black, 12% Asian/Pacific Islander and 36% with diabetes mellitus. During 24-month follow-up, fast progression of CKD occurred in 23.0% of patients with diabetes vs. 15.3% of patients without diabetes. Multivariable predictors of fast CKD progression that were similar by diabetes status included proteinuria, age ≥ 80 years, heart failure, anemia and higher systolic blood pressure. Age 70-79 years, prior ischemic stroke, current or former smoking and lower HDL cholesterol level were also predictive in patients without diabetes, while age 18-49 years was additionally predictive in those with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: In a large, contemporary population of adults with eGFR 30-59 ml/min/1.73 m2, accelerated progression of kidney dysfunction within 2 years affected ~ 1 in 4 patients with diabetes and ~ 1 in 7 without diabetes. Regardless of diabetes status, the strongest independent predictors of fast CKD progression included proteinuria, elevated systolic blood pressure, heart failure and anemia.

Bilirubin levels and kidney function decline: An analysis of clinical trial and real world data.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if previously found associations between low serum bilirubin concentration and kidney function decline is independent of hemoglobin and other key confounders. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Clinical trial data from the SAVOR-TIMI 53 trial as well as the UK primary care electronic healthcare records, Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), were used to construct three cohorts of patients at risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The randomized clinical trial (RCT) cohort from the subset of SAVOR-TIMI 53 trial consisted of 10,555 type-2 diabetic patients with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The two observational data cohorts from CPRD consisted of 71,104 newly diagnosed type-2 diabetes (CPRD-DM2) and 82,065 newly diagnosed hypertensive (CPRD-HT) patients without diabetes. Cohorts were stratified according to baseline circulating total bilirubin levels to determine association on the primary end point of a 30% reduction from baseline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and the secondary end point of albuminuria. RESULTS: The confounder adjusted hazard ratios of the subpopulation with lower than median bilirubin levels compared to above median bilirubin levels for the primary end point were 1.18 (1.02-1.37), 1.12 (1.05-1.19) and 1.09 (1.01-1.17), for the secondary end point were 1.26 (1.06-1.52), 1.11 (1.01-1.21) and 1.18 (1.01-1.39) for SAVOR-TIMI 53, CPRD-DM2, CPRD-HT, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our findings are consistent across all cohorts and endpoints: lower serum bilirubin levels are associated with a greater kidney function decline independent of hemoglobin and other key confounders. This suggests that increased monitoring of kidney health in patients with lower bilirubin levels may be considered, especially for diabetic patients.

Impact of CKD Progression on Cardiovascular Disease Risk in a Contemporary UK Cohort of Individuals With Diabetes.

INTRODUCTION: It remains unclear whether an increased progression rate of chronic kidney disease (CKD) adds predictive information regarding cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between CKD progression, based on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) slope estimates and the risk for CVD. METHODS: We compared the updated eGFR slope calculated over multiple overlapping 2-year periods and the updated mean eGFR. Incident CKD subjects were selected from a prevalent population with diabetes (T2DM). Subjects from the UK Clinical Practice Research Data Link GOLD (CPRD) were followed from CKD diagnosis (n = 30,222) until heart failure (HF), myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic stroke (IS), or a composite end point including all 3 event types (MACE plus), mortality, database dropout, or end of study follow-up. RESULTS: Both the updated eGFR slope and updated mean eGFR were associated with MACE plus and HF. Updated eGFR slope decline of > -3 ml/min/1.73 m2 increased the risk for MACE plus (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26-1.67), HF (HR = 1.50; 95% CI, 1.27-1.76), and MI (HR = 1.39; 95% CI, 1.01-1.91). CONCLUSIONS: This study strongly supports current evidence that CKD is an independent risk factor for CVD. From a clinical perspective, both rate of progression and cumulative status of CKD describe distinct aspects of the cardiorenal risk among persons with diabetes. This evidence is essential to enable more timely and improved use of treatments in this population.

Patient characteristics related to metabolic disorders and chronic complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients hospitalized at the Qingdao Endocrine and Diabetes Hospital from 2006 to 2012 in China.

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical characteristics related to metabolic disorders and complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients hospitalized in the Qingdao Endocrine and Diabetes Hospital from 2006 to 2012 in Qingdao, China. PATIENT POPULATION AND METHODS: Data from 14,289 (51% males) type 2 diabetes mellitus patients hospitalized between 2006 and 2012 were collected and analysed. Information on patients' demographic, anthropometric, laboratory and disease histories were extracted from electronic medical records. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 60.5 years, with median diabetes duration of 9.0 years. Mean haemoglobin A1c was 8.4%, where <30.0% of patients had haemoglobin A1c <7.0%. In all, 34.5% of patients had low-density lipoprotein cholesterol lower than 2.6 mmol/L and 31.9% had hypertriglyceridaemia. Retinopathy was diagnosed in 51.1% of patients, nephropathy in 21.6%, neuropathy in 50.4%, hypertension in 77.4%, coronary heart disease in 27.6% and peripheral vascular disease in 58.6%. Once hospitalized, 71.1% of patients underwent insulin injection treatments, either mono-therapy or combined with other anti-diabetic drugs. Metformin was prescribed to 36.9% of patients, followed by acarbose 29.9%, thiazolidinediones 18.1%, meglitinides 14.8% and sulfonylureas 10.7%. CONCLUSION: Inadequate control of hyperglycaemia, poor metabolic profiles and diabetic complications were common challenges for long-term diabetes management in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.