Smoking, nicotine and the kidney

PhD ceremony: Mr. P.K. Agarwal, 16.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Smoking, nicotine and the kidney

Promotor(s): prof. R.O.B. Gans, prof. G.J. Navis

Faculty: Medical Sciences

The studies presented in this thesis aimed to explore the effects of smoking and nicotine on the kidney. Diabetes, hypertension and obesity are well established risk factors for cardiovascular and renal diseases. Associations between lifestyle-related risk factors and kidney diseases are now also being recognized. Potential roles of salt intake, physical activity, sleep, and psychosocial stress on the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are increasingly being evaluated. Despite the development of newer therapeutic modalities and improved patient management, many patients still progress to End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) which necessitates renal replacement therapy. Therefore, it is important to identify new risk factors, specially modifiable ones, to develop new intervention strategies. Smoking is a modifiable risk factor associated with cardiovascular diseases and with progression of diverse kidney diseases, like diabetic nephropathy, IgA nephropathy, hypertensive kidney disease and so forth. In the same line of research, in this thesis we investigated effects of smoking on native and transplanted kidneys.