A New Study Shows CKD Patients Can Reduce — or Even Eliminate — Excess Mortality Risk
The Next Step in Kidney Care: Tracking What Truly Changes Outcomes
Every week I try to bring you the most important and practical science about living with chronic kidney disease. And this week, something big came out.
A new study using data from over 18,000 people in the U.S. found something incredibly hopeful for anyone living with CKD:
When patients with CKD managed 6–7 key health and lifestyle factors, their risk of dying became the same as people without CKD.
Yes — you read that right.
For decades we’ve heard the same message:
CKD shortens life expectancy. CKD raises risk of heart disease. CKD is progressive.
But this new research brings a very different — and empowering — message:
CKD risk isn’t fixed. A large part of it is modifiable. And controlling multiple risk factors can literally erase the excess mortality normally associated with CKD.
Let’s break down what this means for your daily life.
What Did the Study Look At?
Researchers analyzed NHANES data (a nationally representative study in the U.S.) from 2007 to 2018 and followed participants for an average of seven years.
They studied 2,394 people with CKD and 15,962 without CKD, and looked at seven modifiable risk factors:
The Seven “Controllable” Factors
Blood pressure (<130/80)
Body weight (BMI) between 18.5–24.9
Blood sugar / HbA1c (<6.5%)
Cholesterol (non-HDL < 3.4 mmol/L)
Not smoking (never or quit)
Physical activity (≥150min/week)
Healthy diet quality (top 40% in the Healthy Eating Index)
These are not extreme medical interventions.
These are everyday lifestyle and clinical targets that most people can work toward.
What Did They Find?
1. Every additional controlled factor lowered the risk of death.
For CKD patients:
Each factor controlled - decreases all-cause mortality by 19%
Each factor controlled - decreases cancer mortality by 27%
So controlling one more thing — even if it’s small — matters.
2. Controlling 6–7 factors was the “sweet spot.”
People with CKD who controlled:
0–2 factors → highest mortality
4–5 factors → risk dropped nearly in half
6–7 factors → 59% lower mortality
3. And here’s the biggest headline:
CKD patients who controlled 6–7 factors had NO more risk than people without CKD.
Their mortality rates were statistically identical to the general population.
This is unprecedented.
It means CKD is far more modifiable than most of us believed.
Why This Matters for You
CKD can feel overwhelming. Many patients feel like their condition is out of their control — something that “just gets worse.”
But this study flips that narrative.
Your daily actions — your food, your physical activity, your blood pressure, your cholesterol, your glucose control, your decision not to smoke — are powerful.
They add up.
Not in a small way, but in a life-changing way.
Does It Mean You Need to Be Perfect?
Absolutely not.
The beauty of this study is the dose–response effect:
Every improvement counts. Every factor controlled lowers risk further.
If you can’t control all seven today, start with one.
Then stack another.
Then another.
Think of it like building your own protective shield.
You don’t need to be perfect — you just need to improve gradually.
Why Only 1% of CKD Patients Achieve 6–7 Factors
The study showed something important:
Only 1 out of every 100 CKD patients reached that optimal zone.
Not because they don’t care…
but because the healthcare system doesn’t support multifactorial care.
This is exactly the gap platforms like MetaSano are trying to solve — helping people stack these factors through daily guidance, food-as-medicine tools, and personalized recommendations.
How MetaSano Fits Into This: Helping You Control 6 of the 7 Key Risk Factors
One of the most exciting parts of this study is how closely it aligns with what we’re building at MetaSano. Out of the seven risk factors shown to reduce mortality in CKD, MetaSano already helps you manage six of them:
Blood pressure tracking and guidance
Body weight monitoring and food recommendations
Blood sugar awareness through meal logging and carbohydrate insights
Cholesterol-friendly food recommendations
Physical activity tracking
Diet quality through our meal analysis and CKD-friendly food scoring
The only factor we don’t currently address is smoking — our app isn’t designed for cessation support.
But starting next week, we’re taking a huge step forward:
MetaSano will include all 7 risk factors in a new dashboard, so you can follow your full CKD risk profile inside the app.
Even more exciting, this update will be released together with a powerful new feature:
Personalized “Food-as-Medicine” Guidance
You’ll be able to see which specific foods can help improve the lab markers where you currently need medication support — things like glucose, cholesterol, thrombosis, triglycerides,, potassium, phosphorus, and blood pressure–related labs.
This means MetaSano won’t just track your health…
It helps you make food decisions that actively move your lab results in the right direction.
Get the MetaSano app today and check out our redesigned website at www.metasano.com
Final Message: You Have More Control Than You Realize
This study gives something powerful to every person living with CKD:
Hope rooted in data.
Proof that lifestyle and clinical care together change your future.
Evidence that CKD risk is malleable — not fixed.
Your kidneys may not be perfect.
But your health journey is absolutely still in your hands.
Let’s keep taking one step at a time — together.
With you on this journey,
Ewerton Lopes - Living with CKD since 2016
Founder of MetaSano and MetaSano IQ
Integrative Nutrition Specialist
Kidney Health Coach
Gerontologist
Author of the book My Dog, My Healer: My path to overcoming chronic kidney disease
Scientific study: Multiple risk factors controlled and mortality risks in chronic kidney disease
I wonder if this holds true for those with polycystic kidney disease. It’s such a systemic CKD - with increased heart issues, risk of brain aneurysm and liver involvement. I do try to stay as healthy as possible to hold off what seems like the inevitable!