Physical activity, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular risk: A study in half a million adults

Objective There is a growing prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), a condition associated with a higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We assessed the association between self‐reported physical activity (PA) and CKD and also studied whether PA attenuates CKD‐associated CVD risk. Methods A cohort of Spanish adults (18–64 years) participated in this nationwide study. Participants were categorized at baseline as being either inactive (performing no PA), regularly, or insufficiently active (meeting or not, respectively, international PA recommendations) and were followed for up to 5 years. The presence of CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate 0.1). In turn, CKD was associated with a higher prevalence of hypertension (+3%) and diabetes (+5%) at baseline and with a greater incidence of hypertension at follow‐up (+37%). Among those participants with CKD, regular PA was associated with a lower prevalence (−45% to −7%) and incidence (−38% to −4%) of all CVD risk factors. Conclusion Although PA might not reduce incident CKD in the middle term (~2 years), it can attenuate the CVD risk linked to this condition.