Women's Kidney Health in Focus: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

Women have a higher prevalence of chronic kidney disease than men, but are less likely to progress to kidney failure or receive transplantation, highlighting sex differences in outcomes.

• Why it matters: Understanding these sex-specific differences is crucial because women’s unique biological and reproductive factors influence disease development, treatment response, and outcomes, yet they are underrepresented in clinical trials.
• What they did: The authors reviewed evidence from preclinical and clinical studies, emphasizing estrogen receptor signaling, reproductive health, and disparities in care, to explore how sex impacts chronic kidney disease in women.
• The result: Addressing these differences through equitable care, inclusive research, and mechanistic studies may improve kidney and cardiovascular outcomes for women with chronic kidney disease.