The American Heart Association has defined a new medical condition that reflects the links among heart disease, obesity, diabetes and kidney disease.
The Oct. 9 advisory, published in the AHA's journal Circulation, defines a condition called cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, or CKM, with the goal of earlier diagnosis and treatment for high-risk patients.
"We now have several therapies that prevent both worsening kidney disease and heart disease," Chiadi Ndumele, MD, PhD, writing committee chair and director of obesity and cardiometabolic research in the division of cardiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in the release. "The advisory provides guidance for health care professionals about how and when to use those therapies, and for the medical community and general public about the best ways to prevent and manage CKM syndrome."
The new advisory approach includes:
- Syndrome stages that range from 0 to 4.
- Screening for and addressing social factors.
- Care approaches among multiple specialists.
- Suggested updates to algorithms or risk calculators to help predict likelihood of heart attack or stroke.
CKM affects nearly every major organ in the body, but the greatest impact is on the cardiovascular system, affecting blood vessels and heart muscle function, rate of fatty buildup, electrical impulses and more.