Prevalence of chronic kidney disease in the Netherlands and its cardiovascular and renal complications.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge on prevalence, comorbidities and consequences of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is mandatory to estimate the potential of cardiovascular risk management on a population level. We studied the prevalence of CKD with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and/or heart failure and its cardiorenal complications in The Netherlands. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional and longitudinal cohort study was performed, using data from the Dutch PHARMO Data Network. Prevalence of CKD at a single time point was determined by a recorded diagnosis or by ≥ 2 estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) measurements and urine albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR) that define CKD. A representative group of adults with CKD was included in a longitudinal analysis to study cardiorenal complications. Those were followed until first complication, end of study or death, whichever occurred first. RESULTS: The prevalence of CKD was 8.9% in a representative population of 2,187,962 adult Dutch individuals. The average age of persons with CKD was 72 years, 57% were female, 19.9% had T2D, 7.7% heart failure, and 3.0% both T2D and heart failure. In the longitudinal analysis, cerebrovascular events (11/1,000 person-years), hospitalizations for heart failure (10/1,000 person-years), myocardial infarction (5.5/1,000 person-years), and hospitalization for CKD (6.2/1,000 person-years) were the most common first cardiorenal complications. People with CKD with T2D and/or heart failure generally had higher rates of cardiovascular or renal complications or mortality than people with CKD without these comorbidities. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of CKD in The Netherlands is 8.9%. People with T2D or heart failure, or both, in addition to CKD, had numerically higher mortality and cardiorenal complication rates than people without these comorbidities. Optimizing up-to-date cardiovascular risk management in these high-risk individuals may provide health benefits.

Association between the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and multiple sclerosis disability progression.

BACKGROUND: Benefits of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in modifying the multiple sclerosis (MS) disease course have been suggested, but their ability to delay disability progression remains unknown. We examined the association between SSRI exposure and MS disability progression. METHODS: A nested case-control study was conducted using the British Columbia (Canada) Multiple Sclerosis clinical data linked to health administrative data. The primary outcome was a sustained score of 6 (requires a cane to walk) on the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), and the secondary outcome was the onset of secondary progressive MS (SPMS, an advanced stage of MS). The cases were those who reached a study outcome and were matched with up to four randomly selected controls by sex, age, EDSS and calendar year at study entry using incidence density sampling. The associations between disability worsening and SSRI exposure were assessed with conditional logistic regression models, adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: A total of 3920 patients were included in the main analyses, of which 272 reached sustained EDSS 6 and 187 reached SPMS. SSRI exposure was significantly different between patients who reached sustained EDSS 6 and controls [adjusted odds ratio (adjOR):1.44; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.03-2.01]. However, SSRI exposure was not significantly different between those who reached SPMS and their controls (adjOR:1.35; 95%CI:0.89-2.04). CONCLUSION: We found no evidence to suggest that SSRI exposure was associated with a delay in MS disability accumulation or progression. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.