In this episode we talk to Clare MacRae, a GP at the Centre for Population Health Sciences, Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics in Edinburgh.

Main paper: Comorbidity in chronic kidney disease:a large cross-sectional study of prevalence in Scottish primary care and this is at: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp20X714125

Additional paper discussed: Potentially inappropriate prescribing in people with chronic kidney disease: cross-sectional analysis of a large population cohort and this is at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2020.0871

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common and results in significant mortality and morbidity, and is known to be commonly associated with hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Despite research indicating that people with CKD and comorbidity, of any type, are at increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes, little is known about the prevalence of discordant physical and mental health conditions in people with CKD. The present study found that almost all people with CKD have coexisting comorbidities, and that extreme comorbidity is >40 times more common in adults with CKD compared with age-, sex-, and deprivation-adjusted controls. The majority of discordant physical and mental health conditions were more common in people with CKD.