Novel Kidney Injury Biomarkers in Young Adults

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition in which gradual kidney damage impairs its ability to filter blood. CKD has varying levels of severity and tends to become more common, and worsen, with advanced age. If left untreated, CKD can progress to kidney failure and early cardiovascular disease. About 37 million American adults are estimated to have CKD and most (~90%) are undiagnosed. Advanced CKD is more common in non-Hispanic Black adults than in non-Hispanic White adults or non-Hispanic Asian adults. Hypertension and health behaviors influence susceptibility to CKD. For example, high dietary salt is linked to future CKD. Due to the racial disparities and lifestyle factors that contribute to CKD, there is a growing interest in kidney injury biomarkers that are predictive of future CKD. As part of this thesis project, we sought to 1) determine whether high dietary salt increases kidney injury biomarkers in healthy young adults; and 2) we also sought to determine whether racial disparities play a role in kidney injury biomarkers within a college sample of healthy young Black and White adults.