Men at higher risk of kidney failure than women: study

Researchers from the University of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada found that while there was 2.66 per cent risk of middle aged men developing kidney failure, women faced a lower risk at 1.76 per cent risk.

Approximately 1 in 40 men and 1 in 60 women of middle age will develop kidney failure if they live into their 90s, the study found.

In people with reduced kidney function, men were again at a higher risk of 7.51 per cent and women at 3.21 per cent as compared to people with relatively preserved kidney function (men: 1.01 per cent and women: 0.63 per cent).

In the study, Tanvir Chowdhury Turin and Brenda Hemmelgarn from 1997 to 2008 studied 2,895,521 adult Alberta residents who were free of kidney failure at the start of the study.

"Given the high morbidity and cost associated with kidney failure, we wanted to quantify the burden of disease for kidney failure in an easily understandable index to communicate information for patients, health practitioners, and policy makers," Turin said in a statement.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).