May 13, 2025

T2D patients with significant kidney function decline at greater risk of serious health complications

A study led by researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton shows an association between sharp declines in kidney function and adverse cardiovascular complications, hospitalization, and mortality in people with Type 2 diabetes (T2D).

People with diabetes and kidney disease are at high risk of other health complications, including kidney failure, cardiovascular complications, and mortality. Previous studies show that declines in kidney function, as measured by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), are associated with a higher risk of kidney failure.

Dr. Scott W. Klarenbach and colleagues sought to understand whether declines in kidney function are associated with other adverse outcomes — such as cardiovascular complications, hospitalization, and mortality — in people with T2D and kidney disease. To do so, they analyzed the health records of more than 330,000 people in Alberta with T2D; they looked at the patients’ kidney function over the past three years, and then assessed whether this correlated with any of these adverse outcomes in the following year: kidney failure, first heart attack, first stroke, heart failure, and disease-specific and all-cause hospitalization and mortality.

Over the course of one year, 2.6 per cent of study participants experienced a first cardiovascular event (e.g., heart attack), 12.8 per cent were hospitalized, and 2.3 per cent died. Study participants with larger declines in kidney function were more likely to experience these outcomes than people with mild or modest kidney function decline. Importantly, kidney decline was a predictor for these outcomes, regardless of other factors.

These results could help doctors better identify people at high-risk of adverse outcomes and offer timely interventions.