Particulate Matter and Incident Chronic Kidney Disease in Japan: The Ibaraki Prefectural Health Study (IPHS).

Introduction: Global health hazards caused by air pollution, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), have been gaining attention; however, air pollution-associated CKD has not been explored in Japan. Methods: We examined 77,770 men and women with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥60 ml/min/1.73 m2 in the Ibaraki Prefecture who participated in annual community-based health checkups from 1993 at 40-75 years old and were followed up through December 2020. The outcome was newly developed kidney dysfunction with eGFR of <60 ml/min/1.73 m2 during follow-up. To assess air pollution, a PM2.5 exposure model was employed to estimate yearly means at 1 × 1-km resolution, converted into means at the municipal level. Hazard modeling was employed to examine PM2.5 concentrations in residential areas as a risk factor for outcomes. Results: Participants were distributed across 23 municipalities in the Ibaraki Prefecture, with PM2.5 concentrations between 16.2 and 33.4 µg/m3 (mean, 22.7 µg/m3) in 1987-1995 as the exposure period. There were 942 newly developed kidney dysfunctions during follow-up. Based on 1987-1995 PM2.5 concentrations as the baseline exposure, the multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio per 10-µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 for newly developed kidney dysfunction was 1.02 (95%CI, 0.80-1.24) in men and 1.19 (95%CI, 0.95-1.44) in women. Conclusions: Elevated PM2.5 did not represent a significant risk factor for incident CKD in a prefecture in Japan.

Angiotensin Receptor-Neprilysin Inhibitor Suppresses Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System Activation After Cardiac Surgery Using Cardiopulmonary Bypass.

BACKGROUND: Sacubitril/valsartan, being both a neprilysin inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker, exhibits a renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitory effect. However, no study has investigated the administration of sacubitril/valsartan in patients early after surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass.Methods and Results: This was a prospective observational study of 63 patients who underwent open heart surgery and were treated with sacubitril/valsartan. No serious adverse events occurred. Among the 63 patients, sacubitril/valsartan was discontinued in 13 due to hypotension (n=10), renal dysfunction (n=2), and dizziness (n=1). Atrial natriuretic peptide concentrations increased significantly from Day 3 of treatment (P=0.0142 vs. Postoperative Day 1) and remained high thereafter. In contrast, plasma renin activity was significantly suppressed from Day 3 onwards (P=0.00206 vs. Postoperative Day 1). A decrease in creatinine concentrations and an increase in the estimated glomerular filtration rate were observed on Day 3; this improvement in renal function was not observed in the historical control group, in which patients did not receive sacubitril/valsartan. New postoperative atrial fibrillation was less frequent in the study group compared with the historical control (12.7% vs. 38.0%; P=0.0034). CONCLUSIONS: Sacubitril/valsartan administration was safe immediately after open heart surgery in patients without postoperative hypotension. It enhanced serum atrial natriuretic peptide concentrations and suppressed RAAS activation.