Kidney function

[Asdfvv]

Does afib lead to reduced kidney function? Does afib cause kidney disease? Or vice versa?

[rosyG]

I haven't ever heard of this. You do secrete an enzyme, when in AF, which makes you pass more urine! NOACs are given at a reduced dose if people have poor renal function- otherwise I haven't heard of a connection.

However, at some medical study days recently I heard that heart procedures are not always as successful if people have kidney disease as things are inter-linked so I wouldn't say never....

[BobD Volunteer]

Never heard of that BUT AF is often something which happens with age and age tends to reduce kidney function. Mine is down but my GP assures me it is about right for my age and not to worry.

[CDreamer]

To my knowledge there is no direct cause and effect but as both Rosy and Bob commented they sometimes may be associated. I think a lot of the meds we take can cause decreased kidney function - which is why we are tested regularly - or at least should be!

[Asdfvv]

True. Also it's important to drink lots of water. Especially as we get older.

[MarkS]

There is an association between AF and kidney function. One of the measures of kidney function is eGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate). If your egfr is less than 30 (which is classified as kidney disease) your risk of AF is 2 times higher. See:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/287...

Also your stroke risk is over 3 times higher if your egfr is less than 50:

nature.com/articles/srep30271

In my own case my egfr improved from 56 to 65 following my successful ablation.

[Bolander in reply to MarkS]

Slightly worrying as my egfr was 39 when last tested. I have had reduced kidney function for several years (a side effect of Perindopril) but this had stabilised well before I developed atrial flutter (which is in remission at the moment). I had a brief visual disturbance recently and wonder now whether this was due to a TIA. As I am taking Warfarin there doesn't seem to be anything that would mitigate the risk.

[Asdfvv]

It does make sense. The kidneys are responsible for keeping electrolyte balance in the body. So if they are not functioning properly they can affect the heart. I first developed Afib after stopping antidepressants cold turkey. This caused major withdrawal symptoms and overloaded my kidneys as I was detoxing.

[bushy2016]

The connection I have between kidney disease and af is....my af was left untreated..which in turn gave me heart failure...which then gave me major organ failure....which damaged my kidneys...

[Asdfvv]

One of the first symptoms I experienced, before I discovered I had palpitations or afib, was more frequent urination. And when I did urinate, it was full of foam. Which is protein in the urine, a sign of kidney disease.