Heart and Kidney Disease Linked

Two sets of U.S. researchers have found that cardiovascular disease results in poor kidney function and attention to both concurrently is crucial.

The first study began from the kidney end of the equation and was led by Peter A. McCullough of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. McCullough and his colleagues analyzed data from a group of 37,153 people with personal or family histories of diabetes, hypertension or kidney disease screened for three markers of kidney disease in a community-based program between 2000 and 2003.

More than a quarter of those who were positive for all three kidney disease markers also had cardiovascular disease, and their survival rate was 93 percent lower than that of any other group.

The second study, led by Essam F. Elsayed at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston evaluated 13,826 individuals, average age 57.6, who participated in two large cardiovascular health studies. Subjects in these studies were followed every three years for an average of 9.3 years after recruitment, and a significant number of those with cardiovascular disease when the study started developed kidney disease before the end.

Because these patients are mainly under the care of primary care physicians and cardiologists, it is important to draw attention to the increased risk of kidney disease in this population, Elsayed said.

The study is published in the June 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.