A recent study found 26.3 percent of American adults have at least one cardiac, renal or metabolic condition, and 1.5 percent have all three.
The study, published Sept. 27 in JAMA Cardiology, compared 11,607 records from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2002 and 2015 to 2020.
"This analysis shows [cardiac, renal, and metabolic] multimorbidity is increasingly prevalent and historically undertreated among U.S. adults, supporting the development of team-based, comprehensive and equitable management strategies to enable attainment of prevention and treatment goals throughout the life span and across the [cardiac, renal, and metabolic] continuum," investigators wrote.
Here are four findings:
- Of patients older than 65, 33.6 percent had one cardiac, renal or metabolic condition, 17.1 percent had two conditions and 5 percent had all three.
- Chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes were the most prevalent dyad at 3.2 percent, followed by cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes at 1.7 percent and cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease at 1.6 percent.
- The top key risk factors present in participants were prediabetes (25.9 percent), hypercholesterolemia (29 percent), hypertension (38.5 percent) and obesity (41.2 percent).
- The number of adults with multiple conditions increased from 5.3 percent in 1999 to 8 percent in 2020, and the number with all three conditions increased from 0.7 percent to 1.5 percent in the same time period.