Smoking Accelerates Kidney Failure in Diabetes

People with diabetes and high blood pressure ought to be informed that there is yet another reason to give up cigarettes: accelerated kidney failure. A study reported in the January issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases found that smokers who were diabetic and taking angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors to control their blood pressure excreted significantly more of the protein albumin than patients with diabetes on the same medication who did not smoke, an indication of failing kidneys. Diabetes is a leading cause of kidney failure, but why smoking accelerates the progress of the disease requires research, the study concluded. In the meantime, this is one more reason to quit.