CORDOBA, July 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Kidney disease has a “major impact on cardiovascular risk and metabolic aging of the body, so patients with some type of kidney disease have a higher cardiovascular risk and are more likely to die from cardiovascular causes than to reach end-stage renal failure,” as highlighted by Dr. Francisco Amaral-Neiva, specialist in the nephrology department of the Quironsalud Córdoba Hospital and head of the same department at the Quironsalud Málaga Hospital.
As reported in the hospital note, Dr. Amaral-Neiva explained that there are three diseases that are “classically considered the main causes of cardiovascular damage, namely high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, to which we must add smoking, a sedentary lifestyle and obesity. But there is a little-known element: the link between kidney health and cardiovascular pathologies.
Thus, an additional marker of cardiovascular risk is a person’s kidney function, as well as urinary albumin excretion, which is the amount of protein lost in the urine and is an indicator of both kidney and cardiovascular disease.
Therefore, it is important to monitor kidney health and closely control blood pressure in patients who have already been diagnosed with hypertension, because even if they follow recommendations, including exercising, reducing alcohol and coffee consumption, stopping smoking, and following a low-salt diet, they should also be monitored by a nephrologist to keep their overall cardiovascular risk under control.
In the nephrological assessment, in addition to performing a complete analytical study, “we rely heavily on the examination of the kidneys, we must take into account that the kidneys are the main organs responsible for the control and regulation of blood pressure, and for this reason we must assess that all these mechanisms are working properly, through analytical determinations, as well as through ultrasound.”
This is because potential causes of high blood pressure may include a vascular component that affects blood flow to the kidneys and alters blood pressure regulation mechanisms.
The Quironsalud Hospitals in Cordoba and Malaga have nephrologists with extensive knowledge in the management of patients with kidney disease, in order to diagnose the cause of said disease and, depending on the circumstances, improve or stabilize it, which “in most cases will be subject to strict control of risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia.
Patients with a risk of cardiovascular disease should be examined by a nephrologist to conduct a comprehensive study of the kidney condition, as well as to optimize and personalize the treatment of each person, “using the most modern tools and treatment methods.” Thus, patients with diabetes, hypertension or high cholesterol should undergo annual analytical control, including determination of urinary albumin excretion, to exclude real active damage.
The goal of nephrological monitoring is to achieve “good kidney health and slow down the deterioration of the patient’s condition as a result of poor control of the above-mentioned risk factors or the influence of age and aging itself.”
Similarly, patients who have had kidney mass loss due to cancer, accident, thrombosis or any other cause, or who were born with a lower kidney mass (people born with only one kidney or who are suspected of having one kidney that is not functioning properly), would benefit from regular follow-up with a nephrologist to maintain long-term kidney health.