Renal Disease Mortality in the U.S. General Population; Demographic, Socioeconomic, Behavioral, and Medical Risk Factors

Abstract

Background: Social, behavioral, and medical factors that predict specific causes of deaths may vary across countries. Objectives: Current study aimed to determine social, behavioral, and medical characteristics that predict kidney disease mortality in general population in the United States. Methods: Data came from the Americans’ changing lives study (ACL), a nationally representative cohort, 1986 - 2011. The study followed 3,617 adults over age of 25 for up to 25 years. Main outcome was time to death due to kidney diseases, derived from death certificates and national death index. Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine the associations between baseline demographic (age, gender, and race), social (education, income, employment), behavioral (exercise, drinking, smoking), and medical (hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, and self-rated health) factors and renal disease mortality. Results: In multivariable model, race, age, drinking, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes at baseline predicted deaths due to renal disease. Gender, education, income, employment, exercise, self-rated health, and depression did not predict the outcome. Conclusions: Baseline characteristics can inform who is at higher risk of renal disease mortality over the next 25 years. Race, age, drinking, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes at baseline can all inform programs to reduce burden of kidney disease.