Plain Language SummaryKidney is an organ of the silence because a symptom of kidney disease appears only in its end stage. However, kidney disease even in its early stage is a risk of cardiovascular events, a leading cause of death worldwide. It is extremely difficult to restore impaired kidney function. Early detection or primary prevention of kidney disease is quite important; thus, identifying individuals with increased risk of developing kidney disease is one of the most attractive approaches to reduce a burden of cardiovascular disease. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a condition that several metabolic disorders are clustered, and kidney disease often coexists with a component of metabolic disorders, such as increased blood pressure, impaired glucose tolerance, and dyslipidemia. The present study investigated whether MetS is a risk of kidney disease. A total of 14,917 subjects with normal kidney function were enrolled and followed up for 5 years with the endpoint of kidney disease. During the follow-up, 2,150 participants developed kidney disease and the occurrence of the disease was more frequent in individuals who had MetS at baseline than in those who did not. Moreover, each metabolic disorder was associated with future occurrence of kidney disease and the risk of kidney disease increased with increasing the number of metabolic disorders. Testing for MetS and its components can help identify individuals at increased risk of developing kidney disease.
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