Discussion
In this large population-based study, we found that the risk of death among people with type 2 diabetes and DKD remains extremely high, with 1 death among every 20 people each year. This mortality rate was 50% higher than the rate among people with type 2 diabetes without DKD at the start of follow-up after adjusting for other factors and was not significantly different between the sexes; the excess of mortality was slightly greater in younger age groups. Strong evidence was also found for a 60% higher rate of CV death among people with type 2 diabetes and DKD compared with those without DKD.
Other population-based studies have similarly shown that DKD confers a substantially higher mortality risk among people with diabetes,8 9 18 19 and the annual mortality rate of 64.1 per 1000 per year individuals seen in our study is similar to that reported by Ang et al19 among over 3000 people with DKD in Singapore. Reduced renal function at baseline was an independent risk factor for both CV mortality and ESRD, consistent with previous findings for CV mortality20–22 and ESRD20 among people with diabetes20 21 23 24 or specifically with DKD.9 We did not find reduced renal function to be associated with increased all-cause mortality as reported by others.9 20–24 In line with reports from among general populations,25 26 we found high material deprivation to be associated with elevated risks of CVD mortality and ESRD in our type 2 diabetes cohort, yet no association was seen between material deprivation and all-cause mortality. Several factors previously reported to be independently associated with higher risks of all-cause mortality were confirmed in our study, including older age,9 23 24 smoking,23 24 27 CVD risk factors,23 cerebrovascular disease,23 being underweight,24 pancreatic disease,28 and liver disorders.29 Similarly, we confirmed previous reports that being female24 or being overweight27 was associated with lower risk of death. Age and other traditional CVD risk factors were also associated with a higher risk of CV mortality, while cancer was associated with elevated ESRD risk. We found no evidence for associations between smoking or hyperlipidemia and DKD, and other findings on this topic have been mixed.30 We found that among patients with DKD, being overweight was associated with slower progression to ESRD, and that this was seen for both sexes and across BMI categories. However, this finding should be interpreted with caution because the general health status of these overweight patients with diabetes and compromised renal function might have been quite different from those who were not overweight. Under these circumstances, adjustment for baseline factors might not have been able to fully account for these differences. The results of the Fine and Gray analysis, with decreasing statistical significance and magnitude of the association, seem to confirm this. Although quality of glycemic control was not associated with either all-cause/CV mortality or ESRD, use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists was associated with a 50% reduced risk of death.
Our population-based sample of people with DKD and a matched non-DKD comparison cohort from a data source representative of the UK population means our findings have good generalizability. The large sample size enabled calculation of precise incidence rates and relative risk estimates, although less powered for ESRD analyses. We explored of a wide range of potential risk factors for mortality and ESRD, including demographics, comorbidities, medications, healthcare use and lifestyle factors. Our study also has its limitations. First, some people may have been missed from inclusion in the DKD cohort because we identified DKD using KDOQI clinical criteria from recorded test results performed during routine clinical practice, yet not everyone with diabetes will necessarily have been tested. Also, KDOQI criteria for DKD identification has its shortcomings because kidney biopsy is the gold standard for differentiating DKD from other kidney disease in diabetes. Results of kidney biopsy are, if available, rarely recorded in primary care records. Additionally, evidence from the UK Prospective Diabetes Study that up to 40% of people with type 2 diabetes and reduced eGFR never develop albuminuria31 suggests that our operational definition of DKD may have missed some patients. Second, CV deaths are likely to have been underestimated because cause of death was not recorded in the majority (>80%) of cases. Some studies have reported that CVD accounts for half of all deaths among people with type 2 diabetes,32 who are more disproportionately affected by CVD than people without diabetes.33 Third, although the majority of people with type 2 diabetes will have their renal function assessed regularly, the likely inclusion of some without consistent renal function testing would have led to some misclassification of renal function at baseline and during follow-up. Fourth, drug use was determined at the start of follow-up, and while this avoids finding spurious associations between chronic medication and survival when drug use is determined around the date of death, drug use may change during follow-up. Glycosylated hemoglobin measurements may also have changed during follow-up. Finally, we were unable to explore ethnicity, family history, physical activity or dietary intake as potential risk factors as this information is not generally recorded in the database.
CVD is the main competing cause of death to ESRD among people with diabetes, thereby highlighting the need for treatments that prevent both adverse CV events and DKD progression. So far, the cornerstone of treatment for DKD management and the prevention of CVD mortality has been control of traditional CVD risk factors, using established therapies such as ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers that reduce progression of the disease through lowering blood pressure.34–36 More recently, two glucose-lowering therapies—sodium-glucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists—have been shown to reduce both CVD risk (mainly heart failure) and DKD progression. Currently, evidence is stronger for SGLT2 as a cardiorenal reducing class of drugs, including among people with reduced renal function.37 We were unable to perform a meaningful analysis of SGLT2 inhibitors because relatively few people used these drugs during the current follow-up period. MRAs are another class of drugs being investigated as a possible treatment for DKD. There is some evidence that they decrease the risk of CV events and sudden death in people with reduced eGFR38 and might therefore have similar beneficial effects in people with DKD. In our study, however, use of MRAs was associated with a twofold higher risk of CV mortality, and a 35% increased risk of all-cause mortality, and no association was seen with ESRD risk. MRAs with greater selectivity and receptor affinity to those used in practice are currently being investigated for their effects on reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in people with DKD.39
Our results strongly support continued focus and support to people with type 2 diabetes and DKD in optimizing treatment in clinical practice and continual review of guidelines. The prevalence of DKD is expected to increase alongside increasing prevalence of diabetes,40 and use of renal replacement therapy is projected to increase dramatically, with an estimated 4.3 million people needing this treatment worldwide by 2030.41 Considering the high mortality rates among people with DKD, the condition remains a growing public health problem, and there is an explicit need for newer effective treatments to improve cardiorenal outcomes in these people. The independent risk factors for mortality and ESRD identified in this study will help identify people with type 2 diabetes at most risk of death and progression of kidney disease and help to direct effective management strategies.