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February 2016 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
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The Heart-and-Kidney Connection
More exclusively designed research needed
By Dr. Tom Miller, Staff Writer
Having chronic
kidney disease
amplifies
the risk of
death from
cardiovascular
disease.
The American Heart Association
(AHA) reports heart disease is the
primary cause of death for more
than 26 million people in the United
States with chronic kidney disease
(CKD). Did you know kidney disease
is both a cause and a consequence
of cardiovascular disease, the No. 1
killer of all Americans? With CKD,
the kidneys don’t usually fail all at
once but often deteriorate slowly over
a period of years. This is good news
because if CKD is caught early, medicines and lifestyle changes may help
slow its progress and keep you feeling your best for as long as possible.
Having a regular physical examine is
an important step in the prevention
and management of CKD.
The connection between the heart
and the kidneys is demonstrated in
the realization that cardiovascular
disease accounts for more than half of
all deaths among people with kidney
failure. Even early or mild kidney
disease places a person at higher risk
for a heart attack and some heart ailments, as well as heart disease-related
death. Having CKD amplifies the risk
of death from cardiovascular disease,
whether or not other risk factors for
heart disease are present. The con-
nection between these two diseases is
becoming increasingly clear with the
latest research, but more research is
necessary to address these conditions
among Americans.
In many cases, kidney damage is
the result of another illness that has
progressed slowly over the years. The
two main causes are diabetes and
high blood pressure. If your kidney
disease is the result of one of these
conditions, the best way to manage it
is to treat the illness that is causing it.
For many Americans, hypertension is a primary issue. Hypertension
is abnormally high blood pressure.
Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). If
a person’s systolic pressure is 120
and the diastolic pressure is 80, it
is reported as 120/80 mm Hg. The
AHA has long considered blood pressure less than 140 over 90 to be normal for adults. However, the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in
Bethesda, Md., released new clinical
guidelines for blood pressure in 2003,
lowering the standard normal readings. A normal reading was lowered
to less than 120 over less than 80.
Hypertension increases the risk
of cardiovascular disease, and severe
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