PKD Life - Winter 2020 - 9

Ages & Stages

PKD DAY TO DAY

likely to die at a younger age
than those with PKD alone.

Aging Well
With PKD

TRANSPLANTS

Science has stepped up, but awareness is key.

By Debra Gordon

GETTY/WESTEND61

ark Kaufman was 34 when his mother died
at age 57 of complications from autosomal
dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). He
had been diagnosed with the disease at age 23,
when a routine exam for life insurance turned up
high blood pressure, leading to a diagnosis from
a nephrologist.
Kaufman felt great until he hit his 40s. That's
when, as he puts it, "my energy started to fall
apart." By 2005, at age 55, Kaufman was on dialysis-just like his mother.
He was lucky, however. Three years later, he
received a cadaveric kidney transplant. Today, at
68, his transplanted kidney is still going strong.
Kaufman is representative of many people with
PKD today-they're living well into their 60s and
beyond. This is thanks to newer medications,
improved dialysis, and greater access to kidney
transplants through living donors.
However, the science has yet to catch up with
the reality. "There's not much known about
whether people who have PKD are more or less
likely to suffer from common diseases of aging,"
says nephrologist Vishal Patel, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at the University of
Texas Southwestern.
There are, however, some key areas that people
living with the disease into their 60s and beyond
should be aware of.

CARDIOVASCULAR
DISEASE

Those with PKD are nearly
three times more likely to die
from cardiovascular disease
(CVD) than someone without
the condition, and CVD is
the leading cause of death
today in people with PKD.
Because chronic high
blood pressure is a leading
contributor to CVD, it is
absolutely critical that you
maintain a healthy blood
pressure through monitoring, medication, and lifestyle changes. In addition,
you should follow a hearthealthy lifestyle, including
quitting smoking, getting
regular exercise (but avoiding contact sports, which
could further damage the
kidneys), eating a healthy
diet, and managing stress.
Obesity and diabetes are
also significant threats to
people with PKD. One study
found that people with PKD
and Type 2 diabetes are more

Age does not have to
be a deterrent to a kidney
transplant, Dr. Patel says.
While younger patients may
experience fewer complications in part, he says, because
they have fewer other medical
conditions, "there is a lot of
research data showing that
elderly patients do very well
after transplant as well."

MEDICATIONS

The older you are,
the more medications you're
probably taking. The nonPKD medications you take
may interact with those
you're taking for your kidney
condition, reducing their
effectiveness or increasing the risk of dangerously
high levels building up in
your bloodstream.
Dr. Patel also notes that
older people, generally 55
and older, are less likely to be
prescribed tolvaptan, the first
drug approved specifically
for PKD. One reason is the
exposure to the drug's side
effects, particularly liver toxicity. "Another reason is that
older ADPKD patients with
a relatively stable kidney
function for their age group
likely have a milder form
of ADPKD and are unlikely
to show rapid progression,"
he says.

L E A R N M O R E A B O U T M A N A G I N G P K D A S Y O U A G E AT P K D C U R E .O R G / A G I N G

https://pkdcure.org/living-with-pkd/

PKD Life - Winter 2020

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