High phosphate a warning sign in kidney disease

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

People with chronic kidney disease have a higher risk of mortality, and heart attack, if they have high levels of phosphate in their blood.
Phosphate is a mineral involved in building bone. It's already known that high levels of phosphate are a risk factor for death among those with kidney disease requiring dialysis. Now a team at the University of Washington says that those with chronic kidney disease - a broader population of patients - are also at risk if they have high phosphate levels.

The researchers collected data on nearly 3,500 individuals with chronic kidney disease. Over three years of follow up, 56 per cent of those with the highest phosphate levels were still alive, compared to 67 per cent of those in the middle levels and 72 per cent of those with the lowest levels.

Over 3.5 mg/dL phosphate, the risk of death increased steadily - by about 23 per cent for each additional unit increase. Risk of heart attack increased by 35 per cent per unit increase in phosphate levels. It is not clear from this whether increased phosphate causes complications or is just a warning sign. Further work is needed to see if reducing phosphate could improve the outlook for those with kidney disease.

Source
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology February 2005 page 520

Please take a moment to give us your comments. For questions about Health matters you may check our "Questions & Answers" Portal and Service.