UIC kidney experts present research findings at national conference

Experts in kidney function and disease from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine will present new research at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week conference, Nov. 15 – 20 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Bhavik Patel, medical student in the UIC College of Medicine, will present research on physical activity and kidney function among Latinos from the Hispanic Health Study/Study of Latinos, the largest-ever health study of this U.S. sub-population. Patel and colleagues found that participants who had less than 300 minutes of moderate exercise per week had worse kidney function than those who got more exercise.

Dr. Ana Ricardo, assistant professor of medicine, will discuss findings from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort study. The CRIC study was begun in 2001 by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases to improve the understanding of chronic kidney disease related to cardiovascular illness and is the largest nationally representative prospective study of adults with chronic kidney disease.

Ricardo and colleagues found that participants in the CRIC study who had shorter and poorer-quality sleep had a higher risk of progressing to end-stage renal disease than those who slept better.

They also found that women in the CRIC study tended to have a lower risk of developing end stage renal disease than men did, but after adjusting for lifestyle factors including smoking, body mass index and physical activity, the risk was the same. Likewise, women in the study had lower risk of atherosclerotic events and death than men, but among participants with diabetes, the risk was equal for both men and women.

Dr. Michael Fisher, associate professor of medicine, will also present findings from the CRIC study. Fisher and colleagues found that participants with elevated depression scores had worse cognitive function, but that their cognition did not change significantly over several years of follow up.

Time and date of each presentation is online.