Acute Kidney Injury Linked to Higher Risk of Dementia

A study presented at the American Society of Nephrology's Kidney Week 2018 associated acute kidney injury (AKI) with a higher risk of developing dementia, reports Medical Xpress . Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine examined information on 2,082 persons without a prior history of dementia from an integrated healthcare delivery system in Utah. Subjects had a hospital admission between 1999 and 2009. Over a median follow-up time of 5.8 years, 97 subjects developed dementia. More people with AKI developed dementia, and those with AKI had a more than threefold elevated risk of dementia compared with those without AKI. "AKI, even with complete renal recovery, is associated with an increased risk of dementia," noted the University of Colorado's Jessica Kendrick. "Further studies are needed to determine the long-term cognitive consequences of AKI."