People with kidney failure are up to eight times more likely to have a heart attack and up to four times more likely to have a stroke than those without, a new study suggests.
An analysis of kidney patient failure data over 20 years by the British Heart Foundation Scotland indicated that people with kidney failure have a higher risk of dying as a result.
Previous World Health Organization figures have shown that kidney diseases have risen from the world’s 13th leading cause of death to the 10th, with mortality increasing from 813,000 in 2000 to 1.3 million in 2019.
The new research, published in the European Heart Journal on Friday, also suggested women have a greater risk than men.
However, researchers found cheap and simple treatment strategies could help improve survival rates for people with kidney failure who have had a heart attack or stroke.
The research revealed that over 40% of patients who were not prescribed dual anti-platelet drugs died of a heart-related problem within a year whereas the figure dropped to nearly 14% for those who were given the medications.
Anti-platelet drugs are commonly prescribed to the general population after a heart attack or stroke to prevent blood clotting.
Millions of people around the world are affected by chronic kidney disease, a long-term progressive condition where the kidneys don’t work as well as they should.
Kidney disease patients are at higher risk of heart attacks or strokes than the general population, the British Heart Foundation said. Their risk increases as their kidney function declines and is highest in patients with kidney failure.
It is the first study to assess whether heart attack and stroke rate treatments and survival had improved for kidney failure patients over 20 years.
The researchers used anonymised healthcare data from more than 16,000 Scottish kidney failure patients from 1996 to 2016. Heart attack and stroke rates halved in kidney failure patients over the 20 years and the number of deaths because of them also fell.
But the drop lagged behind the large decreases seen in the rest of the population, the study said and as a result, the gap is now bigger than it was 20 years ago – even more so for women compared to men.