Why would kidney disease affect the brain?
This special issue is a collaborative work which has been published in a high-impact journal Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation (NDT). In this issue, there are six reviews on current topics linking the brain and kidney.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complex and potentially fatal illness affecting all organs and altering many fundamental physiological parameters and processes, such as plasma volume, electrolytes and acid-base balance, hormone and protein metabolism. Thirty to 60% of advanced CKD patients have been found to have impaired cognition. The most frequently diagnosed problem is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), which is characterized by signs of neurological injury and cognitive dysfunction.
Although many theories have emerged as to why kidney disease affects the brain and causes cognitive impairment, the aetiology has not been fully explained. To study this brain-kidney relationship, we set up a multidisciplinary approach and the CONNECT network. CONNECT (Cognitive decline in Nephro-Neurology European Cooperative Target Action) was established and financed through the COST Action program. As described in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), CONNECT is comprised of 5 working groups and has the objective of filling the gap in our knowledge of brain-kidney interactions. It includes clinical nephrologists and neurologists, scientists with pre-clinical expertise in the field of nephrology and neuroscience, and scientists with knowledge and experience of clinical trials, epidemiology and data science. With the collaboration of the different expert working groups, we have already published on these topics in this special issue:
Present and future of CONNECT: a new and compelling project of modern medicine/ Acidosis, cognitive dysfunction and motor impairments in patients with kidney disease/ Neuropeptide Y as a risk factor for cardiorenal disease and cognitive dysfunction in chronic kidney disease: translational opportunities and challenges/ Cognitive disorders in patients with chronic kidney disease: specificities of clinical assessment/ Chronic kidney disease and neurological disorders: are uraemic toxins the missing piece of the puzzle?/ Brain dysfunction in tubular and tubulointerstitial kidney diseases/ Albuminuria as a risk factor for mild cognitive impairment and dementia—what is the evidence?
We highlight and emphasize that a healthy kidney is a healthy brain!