Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients might want to think twice before adding some more salt to their food. A new study linked high sodium intake with increased clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Senior study author Jiang He, M.D., Ph.D. from Tulane University and colleagues examined 3,757 CKD patients in the United States who were part of the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) study. The average age was 58 years old, and the group had approximately 45 percent female participants.
The team analyzed the link between urinary sodium excretion and frequency of CVD events. They followed the participants from May 2003 to March 2013.
The participants provided urine samples at the start of the study and during the first two annual follow-up checkups.
The highest CVD risks were found among the participants with the highest levels of urinary sodium excretion. This association was independent of other CVD risk factors such as history of the disease and usage of antihypertensive medicines.
Within an average of 6.8 years, there were 804 combined CVD events among the participants. These events included heart attacks, congestive heart failures and strokes.
When compared with CKD patients with the least sodium consumption, the highest ones had a 36 percent increased risks of suffering from these heart conditions.
"These findings, if confirmed by clinical trials, suggest that moderate sodium reduction among patients with CKD and high sodium intake may lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk," the authors said.
The findings suggested that physicians and nephrologists should monitor sodium consumption of CKD patients. They need to ensure that patients are highly aware of the risks involved in high dietary salt intake, especially the increased risk of developing heart disease.
"When a person has a recognizable chronic condition, the importance of diet may be even greater," wrote Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, Ph.D. and Neil Powe, M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco in an accompanying editorial.
The findings were published in The Journal of the American Medical Association on its May 24/31 issue. The study was presented at the 53rd European Renal Association - European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Congress held in Vienna in May 21 to 24.
