The risk of premature death increases significantly for people with type 2 diabetes if they develop kidney disease, a new study has found.

An estimated 130,000 people in Ireland have type 2 diabetes and complications of the disease can include kidney disease, eye disease (diabetic retinopathy) and nerve disease (diabetic neuropathy).

According to US scientists, while it is possible to live well with type 2 diabetes, the risk of dying early increases the most if kidney disease develops.

They analysed the 10-year mortality (death) rates of more than 15,000 adults.

The study found that the 10-year mortality rate of people without diabetes or kidney disease was 7.7%. This rose to 11.5% among those with just diabetes.

However, among those with both diabetes and kidney disease, the 10-year mortality rate jumped to 31.1%.

The scientists from the University of Washington in the US noted that people with type 2 diabetes ‘have many other risk factors for cardiovascular disease and mortality, so we expected that kidney disease would predict a part, but not a majority, of higher mortality associated with type 2 diabetes'.

"To our surprise, we found that even in the medically complex patients with type 2 diabetes, kidney disease is a very powerful predictor of premature death," they said.

The scientists believe that because of this increased risk of premature death, patients with diabetes who develop kidney disease should be specifically targeted by healthcare professionals.

They also said more efforts should be made to prevent the development of kidney disease in the first place.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.