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THURSDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) — Ailing kidneys can harm the heart
and vice-versa, according to two studies highlighting the close connection
between the two systems.

The studies, published in this week's issue of the Archives of
Internal Medicine, concluded that anemia and other conditions related
to chronic kidney disease are associated with an increased risk of
cardiovascular disease, and that heart disease is associated with a
decline in kidney function and the emergency medicine news
of kidney disease.

The first study, by researchers at William Beaumont Hospital, in Royal
Oak, Mich., followed more than 37,000 people (averaging about 53 years of
age) for almost 48 months. On a screening survey at the start of the
study, all the participants reported a personal or family history of
diabetes, hypertension or kidney disease.

Blood and urine samples were collected from the volunteers to assess
three markers of kidney disease:

• anemia;
• estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) — the rate at which
  kidneys filter blood;
• microalbuminuria — elevated levels of the protein albumin in the
  urine.

The study found that almost 15 percent of the participants had eGFR
rates that indicated declining kidney function, about 13 percent had
anemia, 49.5 percent had microalbuminuria, and almost 8 percent had a
medicine hat news paper
history of heart attack or stroke.

Each of the three markers of kidney disease was also associated with
cardiovascular disease, the study author said. More than 25 percent of
participants who had all three kidney disease markers had cardiovascular
disease, and they had a 93 percent lower survival rate over the course of
the study than other participants.

“These data suggest that screening for cardiovascular disease would be
of high yield among patients with these risk markers but who do not report
any history of cardiovascular disease symptoms,” the study authors
wrote.

The second study, by researchers at Tufts-New England Medical Center in
Boston, looked at data from more than 13,800 people (average age 57.6
years) who took part in two large cardiovascular health studies that began
in 1987 and 1990. The participants were followed for an average of just
over nine years.

The researchers found that 7.2 percent of those who had cardiovascular
disease at the start of the studies experienced a decline in kidney
function during the research period, compared with 3.3 percent of those
who did not have cardiovascular disease.

“Our study medicine
that cardiovascular disease is associated with
subsequent kidney function decline and development of kidney disease,” the
study authors wrote.

“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,” they added. “Only
with emergency medicine news
of risk factors for kidney disease can this happen.”

More information

The U.S. National Kidney Disease Education Program has more about kidney
disease.