In the US, the rare condition glomerulonephritis is the third leading cause of the last stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD).
A clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health was recently completed for chronic kidney disease (CKD). The results? Highly promising. The study will be published in an upcoming issue of JASN, the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
The basic finding was this: Lowering the blood pressure of patients with chronic kidney disease highly reduces their chance of developing cardiovascular disease or dying prematurely. This idea had never truly been tested before this study, and there had never been a “goal” blood pressure for CKD patients.
Researchers on the investigating team effectively completed the largest study on the matter to date.
Positive results were found a year before the planned end date. Both individuals who had CKD prior to enrollment and those who did not seemed to benefit from the lowered blood pressure.
However, there was one drawback. While lowering blood pressure seemed to dramatically help lessen the risk of cardiovascular disease and death, it slightly accelerated the decline of kidney function in older participants.
Moving forward, it may be that patients have to choose between the lesser of two evils, so to speak. However, further study and investigation may find ways to combat that side effect.
You can read more about this study in Science Daily by clicking here.
Keep your eye out for the JASN’s publication of its results. Maybe this study’s success will incentivize other researchers to jump on board. Hopefully, we’ll see further investigations for chronic kidney disease in the near future.
