Study links metabolic syndrome to poor health outcomes in adults with kidney disease

A study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine has uncovered a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in adults with moderate chronic kidney disease, and found that metabolic syndrome increases their risk of premature death and cardiovascular problems.

Among 5,110 adults in Germany who had chronic kidney disease, 64.3% also had metabolic syndrome. During 6.5 years of follow-up, 605 patients died and 650 experienced major cardiovascular events (such as heart attacks and strokes). Patients with metabolic syndrome had a 26% higher risk of dying and a 48% higher risk of experiencing cardiovascular events. The risk increased steadily with a growing number of metabolic syndrome components, such as increased waist circumference, blood sugar levels, triglycerides, and blood pressure, and decreased HDL cholesterol.

“Although our study uncovered a shockingly high frequency of metabolic syndrome in this high-risk patient group, there’s a motivating message for our patients: each metabolic syndrome component avoided might considerably decrease the risk for a cardiovascular endpoint or premature death,” said senior author Florian Kronenberg, MD, of the Medical University of Innsbruck, in Austria.

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