Search

Objective: To investigate how risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among patients with type 1 diabetes has changed over time and further how the risk is affected by age, sex, and time period of diagnosis of diabetes., Research Design and Methods: A cohort including all patients <30 years old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Finland in 1965-2011 was followed until start of renal replacement therapy, death, or end of follow-up at the end of 2013. Altogether, 29,906 patients were included. The main outcome was cumulative risk of ESRD, accounting for death as a competing risk., Results: The patients were followed up for a median of 20 years. During 616,403 patient-years, 1,543 ESRD cases and 4,185 deaths were recorded. The cumulative risk of ESRD was 2.2% after 20 years and 7.0% after 30 years from the diabetes diagnosis. The relative risk of ESRD was 0.13 (95% CI 0.08-0.22) among patients diagnosed in 1995-2011 compared with those diagnosed in 1965-1979. Patients <5 years old at the time of diagnosis had the lowest risk of ESRD after diagnosis. With the cumulative risk of ESRD estimated from time of birth, the patients aged 5-9 years at diabetes diagnosis were at highest risk., Conclusions: The cumulative risk of ESRD has decreased markedly during the past five decades. This highlights the importance of modern treatment of diabetes and diabetic nephropathy., (© 2017 by the American Diabetes Association.)

Aims: To examine use and changes of medication in the three years before start of chronic renal replacement therapy (RRT) among patients with type 1 diabetes, and the association between predialytic medication and survival on RRT., Methods: We recorded medication of 496 patients with type 1 diabetes before and after start of RRT in 2000-2006 and followed up until death or end of 2009. Data were retrieved from the Finnish Registry for Kidney Diseases and from the FinDM diabetes database. We evaluated the use of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockers, calcium channel blockers, β-blockers, statins, vitamin D, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, and phosphate binders over three years. The association between predialytic medication and survival was assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression., Results: Medication increased markedly with progressing renal insufficiency. Almost 70% of the patients used calcium channel blockers and β-blockers before initiating RRT. Use of calcium channel blockers (RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.53-0.95) and vitamin D (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.52-0.94) at start of RRT were associated with better survival when adjusted for age and sex, but after further adjustment the association lost statistical significance., Conclusions: Among type 1 diabetes patients in the predialysis phase, use of medication is abundant. Use of medication appears to keep patients at an equal survival level to those without the same medication. However, due to the observational nature of our study, conclusions regarding the effect of medication on survival must be made with caution., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background/aims: End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is one of the most serious complications of type 1 diabetes, but scarcely studied. Our aim was to estimate the association between biochemical variables and survival among these patients., Methods: This was an incident cohort study of patients with type 1 diabetes entering chronic renal replacement therapy (RRT) in Finland 2000-2011 (n = 834). Biochemical variables were measured before the initiation of RRT. Adjusted relative risk of death according to biochemical variables was estimated by Cox regression., Results: When adjusted for age, sex, comorbidities, and initial treatment modality of RRT, the most important predictors of death were low creatinine and albumin and high C-reactive protein., Conclusion: Among type 1 diabetes patients entering chronic RRT, biochemical variables independently associated with survival are creatinine, albumin and C-reactive protein. They reflect the nutritional status, proteinuria, liver function, and ongoing inflammatory process. Treatment of these might improve survival., (© 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Aims/hypothesis: Comorbidities are frequent among type 1 diabetes patients on renal replacement therapy, yet the effect of comorbidities on survival is unknown. Our aim was to estimate this effect., Methods: An incident cohort of all patients with type 1 diabetes entering chronic renal replacement therapy (n = 656) in Finland between 2000 and 2008 was followed until death or the end of follow-up on 31 December 2008. All data were obtained from the Finnish Registry for Kidney Diseases, which collects information on comorbidities at the start of renal replacement therapy. The main outcome measure was relative risk of death according to comorbidities., Results: At start of renal replacement therapy, 22% of the patients with type 1 diabetes had coronary artery disease, 19% peripheral vascular disease, 11% cerebrovascular disease, 33% left ventricular hypertrophy and 7% heart failure. All these comorbidities were significant predictors of death in univariate analyses (RR 1.6-4.9). The 5 year survival probability of patients without comorbidities was 74%, while it was 56% and 37%, respectively, for those with one or more than one comorbidity. When the comorbidities were studied in a multivariate model, adjusting for age and sex, peripheral vascular disease (RR 1.9), left ventricular hypertrophy (RR 1.7) and heart failure (RR 2.5) remained independent risk factors for death. Calculations indicated that one-third of deaths in the study population could be attributed to comorbidities., Conclusions/interpretation: Among patients with type 1 diabetes entering renal replacement therapy, comorbidities are common and strong predictors of death. Therefore, it is essential to identify and adequately treat comorbidities.

Objective: Risks of end-stage renal disease and premature death in patients with type 1 diabetes have declined over the past decades. Data on the survival of patients receiving renal replacement therapy (RRT) are, however, limited. We investigated whether survival of patients with type 1 diabetes receiving RRT has improved over time and whether improvement can be attributable to progress in dialysis treatment or diabetes care., Research Design and Methods: An incident cohort of all patients with type 1 diabetes (n = 1,604) starting chronic RRT in Finland between 1980 and 2005 were followed until death or end of follow-up on 31 December 2007. The control group (n = 1,556) consisted of patients with glomerulonephritis who started RRT. All patients were identified from the Finnish Registry for Kidney Diseases., Results: Median survival time of patients with type 1 diabetes increased progressively from 3.60 years during 1980-1984 to >8 years in 2000-2005. In 2000-2005, the unadjusted relative risk of death was 0.55 compared with 1980-1984. After adjustment for the most important variables, the corresponding relative risk of death was only 0.23. For patients with glomerulonephritis, the adjusted relative risk decreased to a lesser extent to 0.30 (P = 0.007)., Conclusions: Survival of patients with type 1 diabetes and end-stage renal disease has improved since the 1980s despite a conspicuous increase in the age of patients who start RRT, suggesting not only true progress in dialysis therapy and overall treatment of patients with end-stage renal disease but possibly also improved management of diabetes.