Chronic Kidney Disease More Common In Cancer Patients: Study

Timisoara, Romania: Cancer patients are at a greater risk for developing Chronic Kidney Disease compared to the general population, according to a study published in the journal Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation.

Cancer patients are immune-compromised and at a greater risk for developing co-morbidities. Due to aggressive and repeated therapeutic intervention, malnutrition and hyperuricemia, neoplasia is considered a risk factor for the development of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). However, information regarding the relation between cancer patients and CKD is scarce. With this background, a study was conducted to analyze the relation between cancer patients and CKD in a large cancer database from Western Romania.

Mircea Ciorcan, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Victor Babes" Timisoara, Fundamental Clinical Abilities, Timisoara, Romania, and colleagues included 5831 cancer patients, with a median age of 64 years, from a large cancer database in Western Romania and were been randomly assigned to this study. Serum creatinine at inclusion was used to estimate baseline GFR by the CKD-Epi formula. During the 2-year follow-up, serum creatinine was repeatedly determined in order to estimate GFR (at least 2 determinations). CKD was defined as eGFR < 60ml/min/1.73m2 persistent for more than 3 months. For assessment, personal and medical data from the analyzed database was used. For comparison, CKD epidemiology data in the general population of Romania was used.

The study showed the following results:

• GRF<60ml/min/1.73m2 was identified at inclusion in 11.88% of the cases. The prevalence of CKD according to GFR criteria was 14.49% after the first year of follow-up, significantly higher if compared to the general population (8.8% - 2008). In the second year, the prevalence increased to 14.98% and the average decrease of eGFR was 4.7/ml/min/year.
• The prevalence of CKD was dependent on the type of cancer, being significantly higher in patients with renal cancer (48.71%), urinary bladder cancer (34.1%), multiple myeloma (20%), liver carcinoma (20%) and pancreatic cancers (19.6%).
• The prevalence of CKD was significantly lower in patients with rectum cancers (9.9%), testicle cancers (8.8%) and in patients with brain tumors (7.1%).

This study, presented at the 58th European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association virtual congress, shows that the incidence of CKD is higher among cancer patients than the general population and that the occurrence of CKD also varies with the type of cancer. It was highest among patients with renal cancer and urinary bladder cancers and was significantly lower in patients with rectum cancers, testicle cancers and brain tumors.

"According to our results, the rate of decrease of kidney function is not high. However, the influence of CKD on the survival of cancer patients should not be estimated due to the short follow-up time," the investigators concluded.

Reference:

The study titled, "Chronic kidney disease in neoplasia patients, the analysis of a large cancer database," is published in the journal Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation.

DOI: https://academic.oup.com/ndt/article/36/Supplement_1/gfab087.0045/6289222