Stroke and cerebrovascular diseases in patients with chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease, defined as a reduced glomerular filtration rate or increased urinary albumin excretion. Increasing evidence suggests that it contributes to the risk and severity of cerebrovascular diseases.

“chronic kidney disease is an established risk factor for stroke and is also strongly associated with subclinical cerebrovascular abnormalities and cognitive impairment, partly because it shares several traditional and non-traditional risk factors, and sometimes uraemia-related and dialysis-related factors, with cerebrovascular diseases”.

The effect of chronic kidney disease on incident stroke is greater in Asian than in non-Asian people.

” Chronic kidney disease seems to be predictive of severe neurological deficits and poor vital and functional outcomes after both ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokes, which is partly due to the limitations of pharmacotherapies, including limited use and effects of novel oral anticoagulants, other antithrombotic treatments, and reperfusion treatment for hyperacute ischaemic stroke”.

Mohan- Pathophysiological interactions between the brain and kidney need to be studied more intensively and should include all races.

Article in – Lancet Neurology -August 2014.

G Mohan.