Smoking & renal failure

Chain smokers have 50 per cent increase in their risk of progressive kidney disease, says study.

A study to be published in the American Society of Nephrology next month has revealed that chain smokers or those who have been smoking for a long time have 50 percent increase in their risk of progressive kidney disease.

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A research team under Elisabeth Ejerblad of Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, assessed tobacco use and other risk factors in 926 Swedish patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) and a comparison group of 998 adults with normal kidney function.

The researchers found that people smoking more than a pack (20 cigarettes) per day, CRF risk was increased by 51 percent, compared with those who never smoked. Long-term smoking also increased the risk of CRF by 45 percent for people who smoked for longer than 40 years.

CRF risk was also found to have increased by 52 percent for people with a smoking history of more than 30 "pack-years." i.e. smoking a pack a day for 30 years, two packs a day for 15 years.

When specific causes of CRF were analyzed, the researchers found that smoking seemed to have the strongest effect on risk of nephrosclerosis, caused by narrowing of the kidney blood vessels. Smokers were also at increased risk of CRF caused by glomerulonephritis, an inflammatory condition that interferes with the kidney's filtering function.