Researchers recently published a study about whether acute kidney injuries raise the risk of dementia.
The researchers looked at the health data from thousands of older adults who had an acute kidney injury, which is when the kidneys suddenly stop functioning correctly.
They found that acute kidney injuries are associated with a substantially increased risk for dementia, particularly Lewy body dementia or Parkinson’s disease-related dementia.
Dementia affects millions of people in the United States, and some experts believe that case numbers will continue to rise in the coming years.
With this in mind, researchers look for early interventions, treatments, and ways to predict whether someone is at a higher risk for dementia.
Researchers from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institutet in Sweden used data from the Stockholm CREAtinine Measurement (SCREAM) project, which studies kidney disease.
The scientists checked to see what percentage of participants had an incidence of acute kidney injury, and whether or not they developed any form of dementia.
They learned that people who had acute kidney injuries had a 49% higher chance of dementia than people who did not have an acute kidney injury.
Why it’s important to identify dementia risk factors
Dementia affects cognitive abilities and can cause memory loss, loss of language skills, and emotional issues. According to the National Institute on AgingTrusted Source, dementia occurs because of “changes in certain brain regions that cause neurons (nerve cells) and their connections to stop working properly.”
The Population Reference Bureau reports that around 7 million older adults in the U.S. have some form of dementia, and the group anticipates that number to nearly double by 2040.
There is currently no cure for dementia, but some medications can slow down progression or help manage symptoms.
The authors of the current study noted that certain risk factors, such as hypertension, obesity, and alcohol use may contribute to dementia, and they wanted to focus on whether acute kidney injury increases the risk.
“Ascertaining additional risk factors of dementia is important for identifying high-risk individuals early and advancing preventative and monitoring strategies,” the authors write.
The authors noted that acute kidney injury carries a higher risk of mortality, and may disrupt the blood-brain barrierTrusted Source.
Creatinine measurements as kidney injury indicators
The researchers used data from the SCREAM project, which tracks healthcare data from Swedish citizens.
The researchers analyzed data from around 300,000 adults who were at least 65 years old at the time of their first outpatient creatinine measurement. Creatinine measurement assesses kidney function.
Part of the researchers’ inclusion criteria was that participants could not have a dementia diagnosis at the beginning of the study.
The participants had a mean age of 75 years, and 56.6% of the participants were female. The participants had a median follow-up of 12.3 years.
The researchers used follow-up creatinine measurements to assess for acute kidney injury events. The authors considered acute kidney injury events to have occurred when participants had a creatinine measurement of 1.5 times higher than their baseline, a creatinine measurement of 0.3 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) higher than average, or an incidence of temporary dialysis.
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