SAN DIEGO, Cal. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Health officials are redefining heart disease — announcing the development of Cardio-Kidney-Metabolic syndrome, or CKM. One in three people are at risk of developing it. It’s not a new disease, but a new way of thinking about how existing conditions affect one another and how we should be treating them.
J. Thomas Heywood, MD, Advanced Heart Failure Specialist at Scripps Clinic says, “I have this syndrome. I was kind of sad that I did.”
Doctor Heywood looks at hearts all day long and never thought he would be taking a close look at his own. He says, “I have high blood pressure. I have, my weight could be better. I don’t have any cardiovascular disease, but I have some of the beginning parts of this and probably a hundred million people in the United States have some degree of this.”
He is talking about Cardio-Kidney-Metabolic syndrome or CKM. It is an overlap between kidney disease, metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
“This is, actually, a healthcare emergency that we don’t treat these things in isolation, but we treat them together.” says Doctor Heywood.
It’s a new way of thinking about the domino effect that just one health problem can have on your entire body.
Doctor Heywood explains, “Obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, renal problems all come together to make each other worse. They’re like a dysfunctional family, and when they’re all together, they really make things worse, and they tremendously reduce life expectancy for patients.”
CKM syndrome ranges from stage zero, or no risk factors, to stage four with cardiovascular disease and kidney failure. Doctor Heywood believes naming this CKM syndrome is as much for doctors as it is for their patients.
“I think it’s a call to action to all of us to look at the patient more holistically and address more of their problems.” says Doctor Heywood.
And by doctors working together, hopefully patients will get an earlier diagnosis and lifesaving treatment.
Doctor Heywood believes this is just the beginning for CKM and soon there will be doctors specializing in this syndrome.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer.
Sources:
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/heart-disease-risk-prevention-and-management-redefined
CKM: A NEW TYPE OF
HEART DISEASE
REPORT #3153
BACKGROUND: Cardio Kidney Metabolic Syndrome refers to a complex interplay of cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic disorders that often coexist and mutually influence each other. This syndrome represents a cluster of conditions that significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events, kidney dysfunction, and metabolic abnormalities. The interconnected nature of these systems underscores the importance of a holistic approach to understanding and managing CKM syndrome. Management of CKM syndrome typically involves a multidisciplinary approach, addressing cardiovascular risk factors, kidney function, and metabolic abnormalities. Lifestyle modifications, including a healthy diet, regular exercise, and weight management, play a crucial role. Medications may be prescribed to control blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipid levels. Close monitoring and early intervention are essential in preventing complications. CKM syndrome has four stages, and you can change the stage you are in by making overall changes to your health. According to the American Heart Association, one in three adults in the United States are at risk for developing CKM syndrome.
(Source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic-syndrome
THE STUDY: Doctor Jay Heywood is trained in cardiovascular disease and specializes in training patients with congestive heart failure and advanced heart failure. He serves as a director of The Heart Failure Recovery and Research Program at the Scripps Clinic. Suffering from high blood pressure and being slightly overweight, he began to look at his own heart. He did not have a cardiovascular disease, but he had the beginning factors many Americans suffer from. Blood pressure, high cholesterol, and renal problems all came together and created a new problem that was just as much of a shock to the doctor as it was to his patients.
(Source: https://doctor.webmd.com/doctor/james-heywood-b966cc59-46b9-4410-9dc6-1b5000406c71-overview
NEW REGULATIONS: Advanced Heart Failure specialists from the Scripps Clinic believe that working together to create an early diagnosis for Cardio Kidney Metabolic Syndrome will help patients and potentially create life-saving treatments. They urge researchers to create new tools that can predict someone’s chances of having a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure in ten to thirty years that would help to diagnose earlier and treat patients suffering from CKM syndrome. New approaches for those who are believed to be at risk for and may have CKM syndrome include screening for and finding social factors that impact overall health, collaborative treatments and approaches to treat all patients, and updating algorithms and risk calculators that help healthcare professionals to predict who will suffer from CKM syndrome.
(Source: https://newsroom.heart.org/news/heart-disease-risk-prevention-and-management-redefined
* For More Information, Contact: Keith Darce
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