ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.

Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1615351

The Global Burden of Chronic Kidney Disease due to Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 attributable to Diet High in Sugar-sweetened Beverages among the elderly: A Comprehensive Analysis from 1990 to 2021

Provisionally accepted
Ben  HuBen Hu1Xiaohan  QiuXiaohan Qiu2Zhengbiao  LuoZhengbiao Luo1Jingxiong  ChenJingxiong Chen3Jun  FengJun Feng1*Linlin  HouLinlin Hou1*
  • 1Department of Cardiology, The Second People's Hospital of Hefei, Hefei, China
  • 2Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, Shanghai, China
  • 3Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China Anhui Provincial Hospital, Hefei, Anhui Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has been linked to numerous health complications, including chronic kidney disease due to type 2 diabetes mellitus (CKD-T2DM). However, the global burden of CKD-T2DM attributable to high SSB consumption among elderly populations remains poorly characterized.Methods: Using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, we examined age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR) and disability-adjusted life year rates (ASDR) of CKD-T2DM attributable to high SSB consumption among individuals aged 60 years and older across 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2021. We employed joinpoint regression analysis to assess temporal trends and conducted decomposition analysis to quantify the contributions of population growth, aging, and epidemiological changes to the observed burden.Results: Globally, the ASMR of CKD-T2DM attributable to high SSB consumption among elderly increased from 0.21 (95% UI: 0.10-0.38) per 100,000 in 1990 to 0.37 (95% UI: 0.18-0.62) per 100,000 in 2021, with an average annual percent change (AAPC) of 1.89% (95% CI: 1.47-2.31). The ASDR similarly increased from 4.5 (95% UI: 2.12-7.66) to 7.24 (95% UI: 3.49-11.69) per 100,000. We observed pronounced socioeconomic and geographical disparities, with high SDI regions experiencing the highest burden and fastest increase. Notably, decomposition analysis revealed that population growth was the primary driver of increased burden globally, while epidemiological changes played a more dominant role in high SDI regions.Our findings highlight a substantial and increasing burden of CKD-T2DM attributable to high SSB consumption among elderly populations globally, with distinct patterns across socioeconomic development levels. These results underscore the importance of targeted interventions to reduce SSB consumption, particularly in regions experiencing rapid increases in disease burden, as part of comprehensive strategies to address the growing challenge of diet-related kidney disease in aging populations.

Keywords: sugar-sweetened beverages, Chronic Kidney Disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, Elderly, Global burden of disease

Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 04 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Hu, Qiu, Luo, Chen, Feng and Hou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Jun Feng, Department of Cardiology, The Second People's Hospital of Hefei, Hefei, China
Linlin Hou, Department of Cardiology, The Second People's Hospital of Hefei, Hefei, China

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