(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A simple bone disease test may signal an increased
risk of death for people on dialysis for chronic kidney disease.
That’s the key finding from UCLA researchers who looked at alkaline phosphatase
levels in nearly 74,000 patients over a three-year period. After adjustment for
other factors that could influence mortality, the investigators found higher
levels of the marker increased the death rate by 25 percent.
Doctors routinely track alkaline phosphatase levels in dialysis patients because
bone disease is a common complication in people with chronic kidney disease
(CKD). “In dialysis patients, increased levels of alkaline phosphatase in the
blood indicate a so-called high-turnover bone disease, which can happen due to
hormonal imbalance in CKD,” study author Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, M.D. was quoted
as saying.
Recent studies linked alkaline phosphatase to increased vascular calcification –
a hallmark of heart disease. “Our study shows the clinical manifestations of
this association in real-world patients,” said Kalantar-Zadeh.
The researchers stop short of saying alkaline phosphatase levels are actually
responsible for the higher mortality seen in this study, but believe the area
deserves more study. “For the ultimate proof of causation, treatment trials are
needed to target high bone turnover diseases to reduce serum alkaline
phosphatase effectively, and then to ascertain whether these interventions can
improve survival,” emphasizes Dr. Kalantar-Zadeh.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, published online July 30,
2008
