Metabolic Syndrome Increases CV and Renal Risks in IgA Nephropathy Patients, suggests study

A recent study published in Biosciences Journal found that individuals with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) are at higher risk of cardiovascular (CV) mortality and morbidity when compared to the general population. This study suggested that the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and related metabolic risk factors were the independent risk factors for both CV disease and renal progression. 

This extensive study monitored a total of 145 patients diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease stages 1to 4 IgAN over a median period of 190 months. The cohort included 92 men and 53 women, with an average age of 54.7 years. This research was set out to understand how metabolic characteristics within this homogeneous group influenced their prognosis.

The results of this study unveiled that patients with MetS underwent a significantly higher number of primary endpoint events, which encompassed all-cause mortality and any CV event such as stroke, myocardial infarction, and revascularization. This also included as renal endpoints like end-stage renal disease and renal replacement therapy.

23 out of 65 patients with MetS faced primary endpoint events when compared to only 15 out of 60 patients in the non-MetS group.  The MetS group also exhibited a higher occurrence of both primary renal and CV endpoints (18/65 vs. 10/60, p = 0.001), and CV-specific events (7/65 vs. 6/60, p = 0.029) among the secondary endpoints.

Through Cox regression analysis, the study identified several independent predictors of survival for the main endpoint. These included dyslipidemia, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), hemoglobin levels, urine albuminuria and diabetes mellitus. Also, the predictors for secondary renal endpoints were dyslipidemia, hemoglobin, urine albumin and eGFR. Gender, body mass index (BMI), and diabetes were observed to be the key indicators for secondary cardiovascular endpoints.

The Kaplan-Meier survival curves of this study revealed significant differences in outcomes between the MetS and non-MetS groups. An increase in the number of MetS components was directly associated with a higher rate of primary endpoints, with patients expressing two or more MetS components that showed a marked increase in risk (p = 0.012). The findings from this study emphasize the prognostic value of the metabolic profile in patients with IgAN. In addition to this, BMI, hyperuricemia, hypertension and diabetes were observed to be as critical predictors of the disease progression.

Source:

Sági, B., Vas, T., Csiky, B., Nagy, J., & Kovács, T. J. (2024). Does Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components Have Prognostic Significance for Renal and Cardiovascular Outcomes in IgA Nephropathy? In Biomedicines (Vol. 12, Issue 6, p. 1250). MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12061250