Acceleration of kidney function decline after incident hospitalization with cardiovascular disease: the StockholmCREAtinineMeasurements (SCREAM) project

Aims The cardiorenal syndrome refers to a bidirectional relationship between the kidney and the heart. However, epidemiological evidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as a risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression is actually scarce. Methods and results We examined the slopes of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline in the 2 years before vs. after an incident hospitalization with heart failure (HF) (n = 20 420), coronary heart disease (CHD) (n = 18 152), or stroke (n = 1808) using data from a complete laboratory data collection in Stockholm, Sweden between 2006 and 2011. eGFR slopes were estimated using mixed-effect models with unstructured residual correlation. Overall, incident hospitalization with HF and CHD, but not stroke, was significantly associated with a subsequent accelerated decline in eGFR, with a faster eGFR decline and greater slope change after HF than CHD. The pre-event vs. post-event eGFR slopes (mL/min/1.73 m(2)per year) were -1.67 (-1.77 to -1.57) vs. -2.76 (-2.82 to -2.71), with a Delta slope of -1.09 (-1.16 to -1.02) for HF; -1.09 (-1.20 to -0.98) vs. -1.87 (-1.92 to -1.81), with a Delta slope of -0.78 (-0.85 to -0.70) for CHD; and -1.00 (-1.37 to -0.63) vs. -0.99 (-1.19 to -0.78), with a Delta slope of 0.02 (-0.24 to 0.27) for stroke. The accelerated declines in eGFR after HF and CHD were consistent across the spectrum of eGFR, although pre-event eGFR slopes were steeper in lower eGFR (e.g. pre-event eGFR slope for HF -0.64 (-0.76 to -0.53) for eGFR >= 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2), -1.43 (-1.57 to -1.30) for eGFR 30-59 mL/min/1.73 m(2), and -2.42 (-2.71 to -2.12) for eGFR <30 mL/min/1.73 m(2)). Conclusions Incident hospitalization with cardiac diseases (i.e. HF and CHD) was significantly associated with a subsequent acceleration of eGFR decline.