BDNF and metabolic syndrome: In basic model 1, which included BDNF, age, male gender, BMI, eGFR, presence of diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, past CVD events, current smoking, and albuminuria as covariates, lower BDNF and eGFR [hazard ratio (HR), 0.927; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.894–0.962; p<0.001] were significantly associated with development of CKD.