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Review
. 2017 Aug 1;18(1):256.
doi: 10.1186/s12882-017-0673-8.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug induced acute kidney injury in the community dwelling general population and people with chronic kidney disease: systematic review and meta-analysis

Xinyu Zhang  1 , Peter T Donnan  1 , Samira Bell  2 , Bruce Guthrie  3
Affiliations
Review

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug induced acute kidney injury in the community dwelling general population and people with chronic kidney disease: systematic review and meta-analysis

Xinyu Zhang et al. BMC Nephrol. .

Abstract

Background: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a common cause of adverse drug events (ADEs), but renal risks of NSAIDs are less well quantified than gastrointestinal and cardiac risks. This paper reports a systematic review of published population-based observational studies examining the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) associated with NSAIDs in community-dwelling adults and those with pre-existing chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods: MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched until June 2016, and 3789 papers screened. Ten studies reporting NSAID risk of AKI in the general population were included in random effects meta-analysis, of which five additionally reported NSAID risk in people with CKD.

Results: In the general population, the pooled odds ratio (OR) of AKI for current NSAID exposure was 1.73 (95%CI 1.44 to 2.07), with somewhat higher risk observed in older people (OR 2.51, 95%CI 1.52 to 2.68). In people with CKD, individual study OR of AKI due to current NSAID exposure ranged from 1.12 to 5.25, with pooled estimate OR 1.63 (95% CI 1.22 to 2.19).

Conclusions: No study reported baseline risk of AKI in different populations meaning absolute risks could not be estimated, but baseline risk and therefore the absolute risk of NSAID exposure is likely to be higher in people with CKD and older people. Large population based studies measuring AKI using current definitions and estimating the absolute risk of harm are needed in order to better inform clinical decision making.

Keywords: Acute kidney injury; Chronic kidney disease; Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; Pharmacoepidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

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Not applicable.

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Not applicable.

Competing interests

PTD is a member of the New Drugs Committee of the Scottish Medicines Consortium (the government body recommending whether drugs be used in NHS Scotland). PTD has received grants from GSK, Novo Nordisk, Gilead Sciences and Amgen unrelated to this paper. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of the identification process for eligible studies
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Pooled odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals for AKI in general population and people with CKD using NSAID vs not using
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Pooled odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for AKI in general population using NSAIDs with different COX-2 selectivity vs not using
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Pooled odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for AKI in elderly people using NSAIDs vs not using
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Pooled odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for AKI in elderly people using NSAIDs with COX-2 selectivity vs not using
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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