United States: As people get older and have more health problems, they are more likely to also develop kidney issues. A new study, published on December 17, shows that having more chronic illnesses can lead to a faster decline in kidney function. This is especially true for people with heart problems or who need a lot of medication and treatments. 

“Our work highlights a need for more comprehensive approach identifying total chronic disease morbidity, and not only their absolute prevalence but also their interactions when assessing the risk of poor kidney function in elderly.” 

For this analysis, the authors used follow up data from 3,091 elderly people in Sweden who were part of an aging study spanning 15 years. 

The researchers focused on the frequency and type of chronic illness that can place a person at high risk for developing kidney disease. 

As reported by the HealthDay, some 38 percent of the population aged 65 and above develop CKD that progressively worsens and decreases their quality of life and general well-being, researchers noted in background papers. 

The team noted that there were five different modalities of chronic disease that seniors might develop as they age and wither away with time. 

Of two disease patterns, one did not seem related to kidney health —psychiatric and respiratory: the other consisted of generally healthy seniors with few ongoing health issues. 

But three chronic disease patterns specifically appeared to increase risk to a person’s kidney health: 

Mortality attributable to other heart issues including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and other related heart risks-which increased by 3 folds a person’s kidney decline risk. 

A general disease burden of cerebral and cardiovascular diseases and other chronic diseases higher by 50% of which raises kidney danger by a little over 45%. Almost forty percent of the patients with chronic kidney disease at the beginning of the study were in this group. 

An accumulation of chronic disorders that alters a person’s ability to think and sense also raised a person’s relative risk of kidney compared to othered about 55 percent. 

These chronic illnesses could harm the kidneys, this due to the fact that they are related with diabetes, or due to the fact that they cause inflammation at the organ level.