Key Points:
Newly detected, moderately progressed CKD is associated with high clinical risks and health care costs.
Most patients with moderately progressed CKD do not have diabetes and are at the same clinical risk as those with diabetes.
Substantial inertia with kidney-protective treatment is observed when moderately progressed CKD is detected.
Background: Kidney-protective treatments (renin–angiotensin system inhibitors and sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors [SGLT-2is]) can delay CKD progression, cardiovascular events, and death.
Methods: This observational cohort study used electronic health records and claims data from Japan, Sweden, and the United States to assess 1-year mortality/hospitalization event rates per 100 patient-years (PYs), cumulative hospital health care costs per patient, and kidney-protective treatment use before/after SGLT-2i (dapagliflozin) approval for CKD (2021) for patients with CKD stage 3–4 with/without type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Results: Among 449,232 patients (across-country median age range 74–81 years), 79% did not have T2D. Prevalence ranges for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and heart failure were 20%–36% and 17%–31%, respectively. Baseline kidney-protective treatment (renin–angiotensin system inhibitor and/or SGLT-2i) use was limited, especially among patients without T2D. Event rates were high for CKD (11.4–44.4/100 PYs) and heart failure (7.4–22.3/100 PYs). Up to 14.6% of patients had died within 1 year. Hospital costs were higher for CKD and heart failure than for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. After incident CKD, kidney-protective treatment initiation was low (8%–20%) and discontinuation was high (16%–27%), especially among patients without T2D.
Conclusions: Incident CKD was associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, costs, and undertreatment, especially in patients without T2D, who represented the majority of patients. This highlights an urgent need for early CKD detection and better kidney-protective treatment use in moderate CKD.