Among the most common chronic diseases in the United States are heart disease, diabetes, and kidney disease—and they’re all closely related.
Adults with diabetes twice Compared to people without diabetes, they are more likely to develop heart disease or stroke. People with diabetes – type 1 and type 2 – are the same at risk Development of kidney diseases. When the kidneys are not working well, a person’s heart has to work harder to pump blood to them. This can lead to heart disease.
The three diseases overlap so much that the American Heart Association coined the term last year Cardiovascular-renal-metabolic syndrome To describe patients who have two or more of these diseases or are at risk of developing them. A new study About 90 percent of American adults already show some symptoms of these related conditions.
While 15 percent of Americans meet the criteria for advanced CKM syndrome, meaning they have or are at high risk for diabetes, heart disease or kidney disease, the number is still “astronomically higher than expected,” he said. Dr. Rahul Agarwal, a fellow in cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a co-author of the study, shared.
The research suggests that people should pay attention to common risk factors for these diseases early on – excess body fat, uncontrolled blood sugar, high blood pressure and high cholesterol or triglyceride levels.
A dangerous cycle
Your kidneys, heart, and metabolic system (which processes the food you eat into energy and helps maintain your blood sugar levels) work closely together. If something goes wrong with one, it can lead to problems with others.
One of the most important early changes in people who develop type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance, which occurs when your body no longer responds to insulin after eating. This causes the blood sugar level to rise.
Over time, it reduces high blood sugar levels and strengthens blood vessels. This means the heart has to work harder: Blood pressure increases to help blood cells and nutrients move through the narrow, irregular vessels. (People with type 1 diabetes can experience this if their body doesn’t produce enough insulin and their blood sugar levels are not well controlled.)
That blood pressure is like a kerosene fire. It triggers inflammation in the body, says Dr. Chiti Parikh, MD, director of integrative health and wellness at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. This inflammation, combined with insulin resistance, increases triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, which contribute to plaque buildup in the arteries. Eventually, the plaque can break and cause a heart attack or stroke.
All of these factors—high blood pressure, uncontrolled blood sugar, and high triglycerides and LDL cholesterol—also cause significant damage to the kidneys. They can reduce blood flow to the kidneys and cause scarring of the cells that filter our blood. And when the kidneys stop filtering blood as much as needed, it causes an imbalance of fluids, hormones, acids and salts in the body, says Dr. Kumar Sharma, director of the Center for Precision Medicine and head of the nephrology department. University of Texas Health at San Antonio. This causes more inflammation and cardiovascular problems and makes it harder to control blood sugar.
While blood sugar issues often start this vicious cycle, excess body fat, inflammation, high cholesterol, and other risk factors can cause changes that can lead to heart or kidney disease, or even down to diabetes.
Protect the progress
Preventing or managing any of these risk factors can help treat or reduce the risk of diabetes, kidney or heart problems.
During annual wellness visits, your healthcare provider should check your blood pressure and order blood tests that measure your glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. A doctor can assess the health of your kidneys by measuring protein in the urine or creatinine in the blood. Another blood test can measure C-reactive protein, which can indicate the presence of inflammation, Dr. Parikh said.
Once you have an idea of your overall health, look for areas where you can begin to make meaningful changes. Adding more fiber, fruits, and vegetables to your diet can help control blood sugar levels and lower blood pressure. Increasing muscle mass through strength training has been shown to help with insulin resistance. And any kind of activity can be beneficial for controlling blood sugar and blood pressure. Experts recommend 150 minutes of physical activity every week.
“Don’t think it’s all or nothing,” says Dr. Estrelita Dixon, MD, an internal medicine specialist at UC Health in Cincinnati.
In some cases, you may need medication to help control high blood sugar, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. There is increasing evidence that some diabetes medications, including Ozempic and older SGLT2 inhibitors, may help with kidney disease and cardiovascular disease.
Doctors say it could be a variety of conditions, but treating diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease as a whole can help prevent serious problems down the road.