Ovary removal may increase risk of chronic kidney disease

Premenopausal women who have their ovaries surgically removed face an increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease, according to a Mayo Clinic study published on Wednesday, Sept. 19, in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

“This is the first study that has shown an important link between estrogen deprivation in younger women and kidney damage. Women who have their ovaries surgically removed have an increased long-term risk of chronic kidney disease,” says Walter Rocca, M.D., a Mayo Clinic neurologist and epidemiologist, and senior author.

Previous research conducted in animals has shown that the female hormone estrogen protectively affects the kidneys. That led Mayo Clinic researchers to wonder how removing both ovaries would affect kidney function in premenopausal women.

Chronic kidney disease, also called chronic kidney failure, means a person’s kidneys are damaged and unable to filter blood the way that they should. If an individual’s kidney becomes severely damaged and starts to fail, treatment options are limited to dialysis and a kidney transplant. An estimated 30 million adults in the U.S. have chronic kidney disease, and it is the ninth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These results highlight the need for physicians to discuss the potential increased risk for chronic kidney disease with women considering having their ovaries removed, according to Dr. Rocca.

“For women who do not have an increased genetic risk for breast and ovarian cancer, we recommend against the removal of the ovaries as a preventive option due to the increased risk of diseases, including chronic kidney disease and the increased risk of death,” Dr. Rocca says.

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