Contribution of Hyperkalemia to Risks of CKD Progression and Mortality Explored in Analysis Group Coauthored Study
September 11, 2024
Treatments that inhibit the activity of certain hormones have been shown to slow disease progression for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, those same treatments can put patients with CKD at risk for hyperkalemia, which is an abnormally high level of potassium in the blood that can lead to high-risk comorbidities and death. Hyperkalemia is a known complication of CKD, but the contribution of hyperkalemia to risks of disease progression and mortality among patients with CKD has been an open research question.
To bridge this knowledge gap, an Analysis Group team led by Vice President Fan Mu; Manager Erin Cook; Associate Ali Greatsinger; and Senior Analysts Jingyi Chen, Angela Zhao, and Elaine Louden collaborated with researchers from AstraZeneca and Stanford University School of Medicine on a study assessing disease progression and all-cause mortality among patients with CKD. In an article reporting their findings, the authors describe their analyses of more than 86,000 CKD patients and compare differences in clinical trajectory and outcomes across two rigorously matched cohorts of patients with and without hyperkalemia. Their conclusion that “patients with hyperkalemia were significantly more likely to experience CKD progression and all-cause mortality than those without hyperkalemia” highlights the significant health impact of hyperkalemia among patients with CKD.
The article, “Hyperkalemia and Risk of Chronic Kidney Disease Progression: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis,” was published in Kidney360.