What is CKM? New heart syndrome linked to obesity, diabetes & kidney disease

(WXYZ) — In today’s Health Alert, a new type of medical condition has been defined by the American Heart Association. It’s called cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome or CKM for short.

The American Heart Association called the new condition CKM – Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Syndrome – because of the strong links between heart disease, kidney disease, and two metabolic conditions – type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Now, the goal of defining this new condition is to catch CKM early on. That’s because it affects almost every major organ in the body, including the heart and brain. But the biggest impact it has is on the cardiovascular system. It can affect blood vessels, heart muscle function, electrical heart impulses, and the rate of fatty buildup in arteries.

And with more and more younger Americans being diagnosed with multiple chronic health conditions, it’s important to identify anyone with CKM as soon as possible. That’s because medications that treat kidney disease, diabetes, and obesity have shown they can really decrease cardiovascular events like heart failure, heart attacks, and stroke.

CKM syndrome stages range from 0 to Stage 4. So…

Stage 0 – that means there are no CKM risk factors. However, a healthy lifestyle and maintaining optimal weight are recommended.

Stage 1 – indicates a person has excess body or abdominal fat or prediabetes. Healthy eating and regular physical activity with a goal of dropping at least 5% weight loss is recommended.

Stage 2 – includes people with Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, or kidney disease. The goal here is to prevent progression to cardiovascular disease and kidney failure. Treatment may include medications. Healthy lifestyle behaviors are encouraged at this stage as well as the next two.

Stage 3 – this includes people with early cardiovascular disease without symptoms but who also have metabolic risk factors or kidney disease. Recommended treatment may include medications for heart and diabetes and testing to check for narrowing of the arteries. And finally, the last stage…

Stage 4 – this indicates a person has been diagnosed with symptomatic cardiovascular disease. They also have excess body fat, metabolic risk factors, or kidney disease. These patients might have already experienced heart attacks or strokes. This stage is split into two subcategories- those who have kidney failure and those without it.

As a physician, I’m pleased that the American Heart Association has defined this new syndrome. CKM screening could really help identify those at risk, especially our younger generation, and help people live longer healthier lives.