Kidney disease patients are at increased risk of cancer

Patients with kidney disease may have an increased risk of cancer and may be more likely to die from cancer, suggests a new study.

The study, published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, indicated that patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may be at increased risk for cancer and CKD may also be associated with worse cancer outcomes.

"Cancer incidence in the setting of kidney disease is substantial. Cancer risk was increased in mild-to-moderate CKD and among transplant recipients, but not in advanced kidney disease," said the authors, including Abhijat Kitchlu from the University of Toronto.

"Cancer-related mortality was significantly higher among patients with kidney disease, particularly urologic cancers and myeloma. Strategies to detect and manage these cancers in the CKD population are needed," they added.

For the study, the researchers involved around 5,882,388 individuals with data on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) or who were receiving maintenance dialysis or had received a kidney transplant (2007-2016).

They then looked at the patients' risk of being diagnosed with cancer and of dying of cancer.

The researchers found that patients with mild to moderate kidney disease and kidney transplant recipients had a higher risk of cancer than patients with normal kidney function.

Patients with kidney disease had a higher risk of dying from cancer than patients with normal kidney function, particularly from cancers such as bladder, kidney and multiple myeloma.