By Jimmy Downs

Feb 2, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- If you live with type 2 diabetes, then you need to pay attention to your renal health.  A study in  suggests that kidney disease is the main cause for the death risk among people with type 2 diabetics.

Dr. Maryam Afkarian from University of Washington in Seattle, Washington and colleagues conducted the study and found type 2 diabetics who suffered kidney disease tripled their risk of premature death, compared with those without kidney disease.

Type 2 diabetes is associated with increased risk of mortality, and the study intended to examine how kidney disease would affect the risk of mortality among type 2 diabetes patients.

For the study, researchers examined 10-year cumulative mortality associated with diabetes and kidney disease among 15,046 individuals enrolled in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III)

The researchers found 10-year cumulative all-cause mortality among people without diabetes or kidney disease was 7.7 percent, standardized to population age, sex, and race. 

In comparison, the standardized mortality  was 11.5 percent among individuals with diabetes but without kidney disease and 31.1 percent among individuals with both diabetes and kidney disease

The researchers concluded " those with kidney disease predominantly account for the increased mortality observed in type 2 diabetes."