Body Weight Cycling Tied to Increased Risk for Renal Events in Type 1 Diabetes

MONDAY, Feb. 10, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For individuals with type 1 diabetes, intraindividual body weight variability, or body weight cycling, is associated with an increased risk for renal events, according to a study published online Feb. 4 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Marion Camoin, M.D., from the Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT)/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) studies to examine the association between body weight cycling and risk for renal events among patients with type 1 diabetes. Four indices of intraindividual body weight variability were calculated for 1,432 participants of the DCCT/EDIC studies; variability independent of the mean (VIM) was the main index. During follow-up (21 ± four years), six criteria of progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) were studied.

The researchers found that a high VIM was significantly associated with the incidence of a 40 percent decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from baseline values, doubling of baseline serum creatinine, CKD stage 3, and a decline in eGFR >3 mL/min/m² per year after adjustment for CKD risk factors at baseline and follow-up and use of nephroprotective drugs. There was also an association seen for VIM with incidence of moderately and severely increased albuminuria, but after adjustment for follow-up covariates, the associations were no longer significant. For the other indices of body weight cycling, similar results were observed.

“Strategies aimed at weight reduction in people with type 1 diabetes should focus on promoting long-term weight maintenance, as weight stability may have a positive impact on health outcomes,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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