Kidney filtration and mortality were linked in women living beyond a century
A Chinese cohort found a curved relationship between estimated kidney filtration and mortality, with the association also varying by testosterone levels.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Among female centenarians, lower estimated kidney filtration was associated with higher mortality in a defined comparison, while the overall relationship was U-shaped. Testosterone levels also appeared to modify the association. These observational results do not show that changing kidney filtration or testosterone would prolong life, and their relevance beyond this unusually old population is uncertain.
This observational study cannot establish causation. Its population was limited to female centenarians in Hainan, and the abstract does not establish whether testosterone itself affected survival.
What researchers found
All-cause mortality: hazard ratio
Estimated kidney filtration (eGFR) ≤45 versus 45–<60 mL/min/1.73 m²; median follow-up 31 months.
Reading the mortality estimate
The hazard ratio compares the ongoing death rate among those still alive: 1.449 times the reference group's rate, with a 95% confidence interval from 1.176 to 1.785 times. It does not give an absolute increase or a probability of dying.
What testosterone adds
Higher testosterone levels weakened the observed relationship between filtration and mortality. This was an interaction within the cohort data; it was not a trial of testosterone treatment or evidence for changing hormone levels.
The original publication
Testosterone modifies U-Shaped association of eGFR with all-cause mortality in Chinese female centenarians: a prospective cohort study.
Zhang Z, Cheng X, Qu Z et al.
Reprod Biol Endocrinol · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41606645
- Record checked
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