Acute Kidney Injury Puts Elderly at High Risk for ESRD

WASHINGTON—Acute kidney injury (AKI) predisposes elderly individuals to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), according to a study appearing in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

The findings indicate that close medical follow-up is important for maintaining the health of patients who have experienced kidney damage.

A number of factors—such as diabetes, hypertension, and aging—increase individuals’ risk of developing kidney disease. Researchers suspect that AKI also may lead to kidney disease, but this potential link has not been thoroughly studied.

To determine the risk of serious chronic kidney disease (CKD) among elderly patients with AKI, Allan J. Collins, MD, of the United States Renal Data System (USRD) in Minneapolis, and his colleagues studied a sampling of Medicare beneficiaries and their medical claims from 2000. They analyzed data from nearly 234,000 patients aged 67 years or older who were hospitalized, finding that the incidence of AKI was 3.1 percent.

Among patients with AKI, CKD developed within two years in 72.1 percent of patients. These findings suggest that AKI may initiate CKD. In addition, AKI patients were 6.74 times more likely to develop ESRD than those without injury.