The relationship between CKD and mental health works in both directions. CKD can affect your mental health, and your mental health can affect your CKD.
Researchers are trying to find the connections between the kidneys and the brain to find out more about how CKD can impact mental well-being. Read more.
Adults with type 2 diabetes and a higher BMI may have an increased risk for diabetic kidney disease, according to study findings published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
In findings from a generalized summary Mendelian randomization using 56 BMI-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms instrument variables, increasing BMI was linked to an increased risk for diabetic nephropathy and a lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, with the effects most pronounced among women. Read more.
At any given time, an estimated 15% of the US adult population has chronic kidney disease (CKD). It manifests as reduced kidney function to below 60% of its normal range (estimated glomerular filtration rate < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) or by spillage of protein into the urine. The many causes of CKD include diabetes, hypertension, glomerulonephritis, and cystic kidney diseases. CKD is an irreversible malady with no known cure, and it invariably worsens over time. CKD is associated with higher mortality risks as it advances. If the patient does not die of cardiovascular or infectious events, end-stage renal disease ensues and the patient requires maintenance dialysis therapy or kidney transplantation to survive.
Each year, 130,000 Americans transition to dialysis, which is not only costly but also associated with poor health-related quality of life and an early mortality of more than 20% in the first year. Hence, slowing CKD progression and preventing or delaying dialysis can have major favorable implications for CKD outcomes. Read more.
Newswise — The Johns Hopkins Health System will no longer use a long-standing clinical standard that factors a patient’s race into kidney function tests. The transition to a new standard of evaluating kidney function will specifically eliminate whether a patient is “African American or non-African American” as a modifier to check how well a patient’s kidneys are working. The change to the new race-neutral assessment means thousands of Black people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) could gain access to specialty treatment or transplantation for the first time.
Removing race from the calculation for kidney disease follows recent national recommendations from both the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology that say race modifiers should not be included in equations used to estimate kidney function because race is a social, not a biological, construct. Read the full story here.
“Improving clinical outcomes for people with kidney disease results in lower costs for health plan partners, according to Cricket.
Today, Cricket Health closed an $83.5 million Series B funding round led by Valtruis, which will enable Cricket’s expansion to support demand for its care model for people with kidney disease.
Blue Shield of California made a strategic investment of an unspecified amount. The round also includes existing investors Oak HC/FT and Cigna Ventures, as well as K2 HealthVentures.
The expansion will improve clinical outcomes for people with kidney disease, resulting in lower costs for health plan partners, according to Cricket. In both Texas and California, across commercial and Medicare Advantage health plan partnerships, Cricket Health said it has shown improvements in key clinical measures for its populations living with kidney disease.”
Read more, here.
“People with kidney disease should schedule dental visits for days that immediately follow a dialysis day. They should also follow these steps at each dental visit:
List your meds. Be sure that your dentist has a list of all your medications
Premedicate. Most physicians recommend that kidney disease patients take antibiotics before receiving dental treatments because they are at increased risk of infections due to the presence of the shunt used for dialysis. The shunt is a tube that is surgically attached to a blood vessel in the arm or leg of a patient with kidney disease so that it is connected to the dialysis machine during the dialysis process.
Place blood pressure cuff properly. Tell your dental professional or whoever is taking your blood pressure where your shunt is located and be sure that they place the blood pressure cuff on an arm or leg that doesn’t contain the shunt.”
Find out more information, here.
“There is promising news for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 2 diabetes—a serious medical condition that is also known as diabetic kidney disease.
Clinical trials have shown finerenone, a pill taken once per day, may prevent diabetic kidney disease from getting worse. Worsening diabetic kidney disease can cause heart problems and kidney failure.
Diabetes damages small blood vessels throughout the body, affecting the kidneys as well as other organs and tissues including skin, nerves, muscles, intestines, and the heart. More than 1 out of 4 adults with diabetes will eventually develop kidney disease, and in the US alone, millions of people already have diabetic kidney disease.
People with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease are three times more likely to die of heart-related causes than those with type 2 diabetes alone. Diabetes is also the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting for 44% of new cases.”
Read the full post, here.
“More than 3,000 donated kidneys are discarded every year in the U.S., even as thousands of people die on kidney transplant waitlists. About a fifth of all donated kidneys — particularly those from people who are older, have metabolic or cardiovascular conditions, or have died — are deemed poor quality. Doctors and patients often refuse such kidneys rather than risk transplanting an organ that might not work.”
Read the full article, here.
“The National Kidney Foundation has released a statement urging the federal government to grant priority to patients with kidney disease and their contacts for receipt of COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the statement, it is a matter of “ethical allocation,” because this patient population is at high risk for severe outcomes if they contract the virus.”
Read the full article, here.
“A new guideline from the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) group addressing issues around diabetes management in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has just been published in synopsis form in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The full guideline, including 12 recommendations and 48 practice points for clinicians caring for patients with diabetes and CKD, was published last month in Kidney International and on the KDIGO website.
More than 40% of people with diabetes develop CKD, and a significant number develop kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant. This is the first guidance from KDIGO to address the comorbidity.”
Read more, here.