Chronic kidney disease patients who also suffer from osteoporosis face a death risk about three times higher than those without the condition, a study found. Korean chronic kidney disease patients also face a higher risk of progressing to end-stage renal failure than U.S. patients, underscoring the importance of early management, according to the analysis.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's (KDCA) National Institute of Health, together with the Korean Society of Nephrology, said Tuesday it had published the "2026 Fact Sheet on Chronic Kidney Disease in Korean Adults," containing the results of the country's largest long-term chronic kidney disease follow-up cohort study (KNOW-CKD). The data was compiled based on the results of tracking about 4,000 adult chronic kidney disease patients at 14 university hospitals nationwide for up to 15 years.
The study found that Korean chronic kidney disease patients had a 1.66 times higher risk of progressing to end-stage renal failure compared with a representative U.S. cohort (CRIC). The rate of decline in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), which indicates kidney function, was also faster than in U.S. patients, confirming the importance of early diagnosis and management.
Complications also greatly influenced patient prognosis. Patients with osteoporosis had a 2.96 times higher death risk than those without it, while the mortality rate of patients with iron deficiency was 44% higher, the study found. When sleep time was 5 hours or less or 9 hours or more per day, both physical and mental quality of life tended to decline.
Lifestyle management also affected prognosis improvement. Properly managing blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol was found to lower the risk of declining kidney function and cardiovascular disease. In particular, patients who consistently performed moderate-intensity exercise had a 53% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease and a 58% lower death risk than patients who did not exercise.
"Through 15 years of accumulated data, we have identified the characteristics of Korean chronic kidney disease patients, which differ from those of Westerners," said Choi Beom-soon, chairman of the Korean Society of Nephrology. "We expect it to serve as foundational data for establishing treatment guidelines and health policies tailored to Koreans."
