The American Heart Association (AHA) recently published a new research article showing that cigarette smoke may increase the risk of developing kidney disease for African-American patients.
According to the research, available in the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, the more African-Americans smoke each day, the greater their risk of damaging their kidneys and developing kidney failure.
“Cardiovascular and kidney diseases are closely linked, but few people are aware of the impact of smoking on kidney function,” Michael Hall, the study's lead author, said.
The scientists behind the article studied 3,648 African-Americans between the ages of 21 and 84. The participants took three different questionnaires over a period of 12 years. Researchers then adjusted various factors -- including gender, age, diabetes, physical activity, prevalent cardiovascular disease and hypertension -- for their results.
The results showed that African-Americans who smoked had an 83 percent greater chance of declining kidney function compared to nonsmokers.
“It’s important for those who have risk factors for kidney disease to realize that smoking is a significant risk factor and could ultimately end up leading to dialysis,” Hall said. “And once you have kidney disease, it exacerbates the risk of cardiovascular diseases.”
