Genetic Risk for Obesity Ups Likelihood of Kidney Disease

TUESDAY, Feb. 8, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Having a higher genetic risk for obesity increases the risk for kidney disease, according to a study recently published in Cardiovascular Research.

Xiaoguang Xu, from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues used genetic data as well as measures of obesity, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and kidney function from nearly 300,000 participants in the U.K. Biobank to assess the contributions of obesity to kidney health.

Using Mendelian randomization, the researchers found that higher values of genetically predicted BMI and WC were causally associated with biochemical indices of renal function, the kidney health index (a composite renal outcome derived from blood biochemistry, urine analysis, and International Classification of Disease-based kidney disease diagnoses), and both acute and chronic kidney diseases of different etiologies, including hypertensive renal disease and diabetic nephropathy. Of the potentially causal effect of obesity indices on kidney health, 13 to 16 percent were mediated by blood pressure and 21 to 26 percent were mediated by type 2 diabetes.

“Our evidence substantiates the value of weight loss as a strategy of preventing or reversing a decline in kidney health, as well as decreasing the risk of renal disease,” Xu said in a statement.

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