Kidney Failure-Related Mortality in Patients with Cancer: Insights from the Cancer Public Library Database in South Korea

Cancer Res Treat. 2025 Nov 24. doi: 10.4143/crt.2025.466. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Kidney failure is associated with an increased risk of death. However, since the impact of kidney failure on overall and cancer-related mortality among individuals with cancer remains unclear, we investigated kidney failure-related mortality in patients with cancer, stratified by various cancer types.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1,307,680 participants newly diagnosed with cancer were identified from the Cancer Public Library Database. We analyzed data from patients with preexisting kidney failure before cancer diagnosis and compared their mortality risk with patients without kidney failure using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models.

RESULTS: All-cause and cancer-related mortality was significantly higher in the kidney failure group. Preexisting kidney failure was associated with an increased risk of mortality in all cancer types after adjusting for comorbidities and treatment modalities (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] of all-cause death 1.75, 95% CI 1.70-1.81; aHR of cancer-related death 1.27, 95% CI 1.22-1.32). Among specific cancer types, thyroid and breast cancers showed the highest mortality risks of kidney failure, with thyroid cancer presenting the greatest risk. However, the risk of death was attenuated in liver, gallbladder, and lung cancers. Furthermore, aHRs were lower for mortality in metastatic cancer compared to localized and regional stages.

CONCLUSION: Preexisting kidney failure significantly increases the risk of all-cause and cancer-related death among cancer patients, particularly in localized cancer and specific cancer types.

PMID:41289714 | DOI:10.4143/crt.2025.466