(HealthDay News) — For black Americans with diabetes, chronic kidney disease (CKD) appears to increase the risk of cardiovascular mortality, according to a study published online in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Maryam Afkarian, MD, PhD, of the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues reviewed data from 3,211 black patients in Mississippi who were enrolled in a heart study from 2000 to 2004. The participants were followed for a median of 7 years.

The investigators found that the risk of death from cardiovascular disease was 2.4% higher per year among those with diabetes. The risk was 7.3% higher in patients with CKD. However, patients with both diabetes and CKD had the highest risk of cardiovascular mortality (14.8% higher).

“The excess risks associated with the combination of diabetes and CKD were larger than those associated with established risk factors, including prevalent cardiovascular disease,” the authors write.

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Source

1. Afkarian M, Katz R, Bansal N, et al. Diabetes, Kidney Disease, and Cardiovascular Outcomes in the Jackson Heart Study. CJASN. doi: 10.2215/​CJN.13111215.