Sleep disorder may affect kidney function

According to new study, improper sleep may worsen the kidney function and may lead to kidney failure.

The findings that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 at McCormick Place in Chicago suggested that not getting enough sleep was linked with worsening kidney function in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Although there is increasing evidence that sleep disorders are common in individuals with CKD, its link with CKD progression is unknown. To investigate, Ana C. Ricardo, MD (University of Illinois at Chicago) and her colleagues examined the sleep patterns of 432 adults with CKD.

The participants wore a wrist monitor for five to seven days to measure sleep duration and quality, and their health was followed for a median of five years.

The participants slept an average of 6.5 hours/night, and during follow-up, 70 individuals developed kidney failure and 48 individuals died. After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and baseline kidney function, each additional hour of nighttime sleep was linked with a 19 percent lower risk of developing kidney failure.

There was also a significant association between sleep quality and kidney failure risk: each one percent increase in sleep fragmentation was linked with a four percent increase in the risk of developing kidney failure. Also, the patients who experienced daytime sleepiness were 10 percent more likely to die during follow-up than those who were not sleepy during the day.

"Short sleep and fragmented sleep are significant, yet unappreciated risk factors for CKD progression," said Dr Ricardo.

"Our research adds to the accumulating knowledge regarding the importance of sleep on kidney function, and underscores the need to design and test clinical interventions to improve sleep habits inindividuals with CKD," he added.