died by the time researchers followed up with them nearly seven years later. More than half of those who died had high levels of suPAR. But the study did not distinguish between people who died of heart disease and those who died from something else.
“We cannot claim that patients are dying specifically because of the suPAR levels. What we’re saying is that patients who happen to have high suPAR levels die more frequently,” Hayek said.
But that could be part of the next steps by researchers.
“[The findings] are associated with death in general. In order to be able to say exactly what they’re dying from requires a bit more complex study,” he said.
The small sample size of the study raised a red flag for Dr. Jordana Cohen, a nephrologist, and epidemiologist not associated with the study. So did the inability to discriminate between people who died of heart disease and those who did not.
“It’s very hard to get this large of a cohort of African-Americans with type 2 diabetes and with such detailed blood work and cardiac data, so it’s unclear just when researchers would be able to