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Diabetic Women Have Higher Risk of Kidney Disease
Typically, women do not get kidney disease until much later in life. A new study has found that diabetes reduces estrogen levels in women. This puts them at the same risk levels as men.
"Until they reach menopause, women in general rarely get kidney disease," says Dr. Christine Maric of Georgetown University's Center for the Study of Sex Differences in Health, Aging and Disease. "Once they reach menopause, they start getting kidney disease and catch up to men in incidence."
"Our research," Maric told Reuters Health, "suggests that diabetic women, even premenopausal diabetic women, get just as much kidney disease as men."
The study used diabetic female rats which were found to have low sex hormone levels. When the rats were given sex hormone treatments which duplicated normal female cycles, the risk of kidney disease disappeared. Male rats given testosterone had accelerated kidney disease.
"The biggest surprise has been the finding that sex hormones - normally thought to control only the reproductive function - are involved in controlling processes in non-reproductive organs, including the kidney," Maric pointed out.