According to a story from drugs.com, kids and teenagers with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may develop problems with learning and cognition, a new study suggests. Researchers emphasize that patients on dialysis may be more susceptible to these problems. The review suggests that children with chronic kidney disease may require academic tutoring in subjects such as math and reading.
The study was led by Dr. Kerry Chen, with the research team performing an analysis of 34 studies that involved over 3,000 patients with chronic kidney disease under 21 years of age. CKD is generally rare in young people, so little prior research has been done to examine the possible effects it could have on learning. Typical signs and symptoms of CKD include elevated blood pressure, urea accumulation, potassium accumulation, bone disease, leg swelling, fatigue, vomiting, confusion, and appetite loss. Diabetes is a major risk factor for CKD, as are a handful of rare disease like amyloidosis and Alport syndrome. To learn more about chronic kidney disease, click here.
The study demonstrated the young people with CKD tended to score lower on IQ tests compared to the general population. They also scored lower on tests of executive function and verbal/visual memory. This was accompanied by overall worse performance on academic tasks such as reading, spelling, and math. More research is necessary in order to determine how to best prevent these declines, but it is not entirely surprising that these problems are present in CKD.
Declines in cognitive ability have been correlated with shifts in solutes and fluids during dialysis. This fact highlights some of the disadvantages of dialysis treatment. Dialysis is essential for the survival of many CKD patients, but fluid shifts can lead to other side effects as well, such as chest pain, leg cramps, headaches, and nausea, symptoms that are often called a ‘dialysis hangover.’ It also takes a significant amount of time (3-4 hours, 3 days per week), requires a lot of electricity and clean water, and restricts patient independence.
