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Kidney Disease and Heart Disease Spur Each Other Hearts and kidneys: If ones diseased, better keep a close eye on1 the other. Surprising new research shows kidney disease somehow speeds up heart disease well before it has ravaged the kidneys. And perhaps not so surprising, doctors have finally proven that heart disease can trigger kidney destruction, too. Chronic kidney disease, or CKD, is a quiet epidemic: Many of the 19 million Americans estimated to have it dont know they do. The kidneys lose their ability to filter waste out of the bloodstream so slowly that symptoms arent obvious until the organs are very damaged. End-stage kidney failure is rising fast, with 400,000 people requiring dialysis or a transplant to survive, a toll that has doubled in each of the last two decades, s The link sounds logical. After alla , high blood pressure and diabetes are chief risk factors for both chronic kidney disease and heart attacks. But the link goes beyond those risk factors, stresses McCullough: Once the kidneys begin to fail, something in turn10 accelerates heart disease, not just in the obviously sick or very old, but at what he calls a shockingly early age. McCullough and colleagues tracked more than 37,000 relatively young peopleaverage age 53who volunteered for a kidney screening. Three markers of kidney function were checked: The rate at which kidneys filter blood, called the GFR or glomerular filtration rate11; levels of the protein albumin in the urinei and if they were anemic. They also were asked about previously diagnosed heart disease.2 years, mostly from heart problems. This study is very much a wake-up call, McCullough says. 1. How can one learn earlier whether he or she suffer simmering kidney disease? B By urine and blood tests. D By measuring the volume of urine output. A 1,9,000,000. C 50,000. 3. How many Americans suffered end-stage kidney failure and required dialysis or a transplant to survive twenty years ago according to an estimation? B 300,000. D 100,000. A To examine their patients heart function carefully. C To select volunteers from their patients for a kidney screening. 5. Which of the following is NOT one of the three markers of kidney function? B Levels of the white blood cells in the blood. D Whether one is anemic or not | 
