Recent researches show that kidney disease somehow speeds up heart disease well before it has damaged the kidneys badly . Vice versa heart disease can trigger kidney damage . So now it is prudent that heart experts must check for kidney ailments while the kidney specialists should be watchful for existing heart disease in a patient .
Chronic kidney disease, or CKD, is a quiet epidemic: In America , around 19 million Americans estimated to have it don't know they do. The kidneys lose their ability to filter waste out of the bloodstream so slowly that symptoms aren't obvious until the organs are badly damaged. End-stage kidney failure is rising fast, with 400,000 people requiring dialysis or a transplant to survive, a toll that has doubled in each of the last two decades.
And while CKD patients often are terrified of having to go on dialysis, the hard truth is that most will die of heart disease even before their stage of dialysis is reached .
High blood pressure and diabetes are chief risk factors for both chronic kidney disease and heart attacks. But the link goes beyond those risk factors . Once the kidneys begin to fail, something in turn accelerates heart disease, not just in the obviously sick or very old, but even in younger age .
There are three markers of kidney function . Firstly , the rate at which kidneys filter blood, called the GFR or glomerular filtration rate . Second , levels of the protein or albumin in the urine and lastly anemia . As the kidney markers worsen , there are more chances of having heart disease.
What about the heart's effect on the kidneys? People diagnosed with heart disease has twice the risk of declining kidney function in the next nine years. Heart disease narrows arteries all over the body, kidneys included. Also, some heart imaging tests use compounds ( radio- contrasts ) that harm kidneys.
It is thought that both the heart and kidneys send various signals to the bone marrow, which produces a type of stem cell that keeps those organs in good repair. When either starts to fail, this key repair mechanism falters.
What patients can do ?
Any one with heart disease should check for presence of kidney disease as well and vice versa . The tests for kidney disease are inexpensive – just get your urine examined for protein , check your blood pressure and hemoglobin . Presence of protein in urine accompanied by hypertension and anemia indicate advanced kidney problem and need further evaluation .
Remember that presence of protein in urine in any age group is pathological .
Keep the blood pressure below 130 systolic Smoking and tobacco chewing cause narrowing of blood vessels and rise in blood pressure , thus damaging both heart and kidneys . Diabetics must keep their blood sugar under control with diet , exercise and medicines .
Fat content in blood especially low density lipoproteins should be below 70 .
A relatively non-expensive drug called as ACE – inhibitor protects kidneys and delays onset of dialysis .
