Factors associated with incidence of acute kidney injury: a Japanese regional population-based cohort study, the Shizuoka study

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a globally critical issue. Most studies about AKI have been conducted in limited settings on perioperative or critically ill patients. As a result, there is little information about the epidemiology and risk factors of AKI in the general population. METHODS: We conducted a population-based cohort study using the Shizuoka Kokuho Database. We included subjects with records of health checkup results. The observation period for each participant was defined as from the date of insurance enrollment or April 2012, whichever occurred later, until the date of insurance withdrawal or September 2020, whichever was later. Primary outcome was AKI associated with admission based on the ICD-10 code. We described the incidence of AKI and performed a multivariate analysis using potential risk factors selected from comorbidities, medications, and health checkup results. RESULTS: Of 627,814 subjects, 8044 were diagnosed with AKI (incidence 251 per 100,000 person-years). The AKI group was older, with more males. Most comorbidities and prescribed medications were more common in the AKI group. As novel factors, statins (hazard ratio (HR) 0.84, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.80–0.89) and physical activity habits (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.75–0.83) were associated with reduced incidence of AKI. Other variables associated with AKI were approximately consistent with those from previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: The factors associated with AKI and the incidence of AKI in the general Japanese population are indicated. This study generates the hypothesis that statins and physical activity habits are novel protective factors for AKI. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10157-022-02310-0.