Early Diagnosis of Kidney Damage Associated With Tobacco Use

Tobacco consumption is associated with the appearance of several pathologies, the best known are Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, several types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. However, the association between tobacco and kidney damage is not well defined. Some studies suggest that smoking favors progression to chronic kidney disease (CKD). CKD does not have pharmacological treatment and the only clinical strategies useful so far are dialysis or kidney transplantation. Therefore, knowing if tobacco is involved in this disease is a very relevant fact, since it is a modifiable factor. Of all the risk factors associated with the onset and progression of kidney disease is the only one that can be avoid or eliminated. Therefore quitting smoking could help reduce the incidence of this pathology. In this project, 3 main objectives were proposed: 1. First: to study the tobacco-CKD association in a more exhaustive way. In a population group (patients who attend a primary care center) the renal function of smokers will be evaluated, comparing it with that of non-smokers with similar characteristics (age, sex, etc). In addition, the presence of certain pathologies that can affect the kidney (diabetes mellitus, hypertension and / or frequent consumption of certain medications) will be taken into account. To evaluate the renal functionality, the markers commonly used in the clinic and other more novel ones will be used (urinary biomarkers of early kidney damage). 2. Second: to assess whether smoking patients will be more likely to suffer kidney damage in the future. This will be done by monitoring the patients mentioned above, for two years. During this time, a group of novel markers (urinary biomarkers of predisposition to kidney damage) that in previous studies have detected susceptibility to kidney damage will be evaluated. It will be determined which one or more of these markers are capable of predicting at time 0 (when the first sample of the patient is taken)