Kidney Disease and Your Heart: What’s the Connection?

"Your heart health is tied to your kidney health. In fact, having kidney disease puts you at risk for getting heart disease. And having heart disease puts you at risk for kidney disease. Learn how these two diseases are connected and how you can lower your risk for both with a few simple steps.

What Is Kidney Disease?

The kidneys are two organs, each about as big as a fist and shaped like a kidney bean. As the heart pumps blood throughout the body, kidneys clean it, remove waste, help maintain blood pressure, and ensure the blood has the right amounts of certain nutrients and minerals.

Kidney disease means the kidneys are damaged. Experts think that more than 1 in 7 U.S. adults, or about 30 million people, have chronic kidney disease (disease lasting longer than 3 months). Most people with kidney disease don’t know they have it. Often, people with early kidney disease feel fine and do not have any symptoms. The only way to know for sure whether you have kidney disease is to get blood and urine tests.

How Does Kidney Disease Affect the Heart?

Damaged kidneys put extra stress on the heart. The damage prevents the kidneys from cleaning waste and extra fluids from the blood and body. When waste and extra fluid stay in the body, people can have other health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. People with kidney disease are much more likely to die from heart disease than kidney problems..."
Kidney Disease & your heart