“Don’t let your kidneys break your heart, but don’t let your heart break your kidneys either”, is the message that medical, scientific and patient societies want to convey to the population this year. The kidney and the heart form a “slightly ill-matched” marriage that must be watched, since the cardio-renal connection is the primary cause of death in patients undergoing dialysis or transplantation.
This was highlighted today by the president of the Spanish Society of Nephrology (SEN), Alberto Martínez-Castelao, during an act on the occasion of World Kidney Day, which this year is celebrated under the motto “Protect your kidneys, save your heart”. A love-hate relationship that can be broken if you act early”. The connection between these two organs is very common and, in fact, more than a third of patients with chronic heart failure also have some degree of kidney failure.
In addition, vascular causes are responsible for more than half of the deaths in chronic kidney patients, more than infectious pathologies.
The president of the SEN has stressed the importance of prevention and early detection of chronic kidney disease (CKD) so as not to have to get a transplant. According to data from the Registry of CKD patients undergoing renal replacement therapy (dialysis or transplant recipients), the incidence in 2009 was 129 patients per million population, a figure that remains “more or less stabilized.”
The relationship between kidney and heart occurs in both directions: an acute or chronic dysfunction of the heart or kidneys also affects the other organ. Therefore, according to the general secretary of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC), Julian Pérez-Villacastín, and the motto “Protect your heart to save your kidneys ”would also be valid.
According to this doctor, “when a heart patient presents heart failure, this situation can damage the kidneys and vice versa; anemia, hyperclesterolemia or high blood pressure suffered by the patient with kidney failure in turn damages the heart.” Dr. Pérez-Villacastín has stressed the importance of a gesture within everyone’s reach, such as reducing salt consumption to 3 grams per day” to help our heart and, at the same time, the kidney, the brain and the entire cardiovascular system.”
There is still a long way to go in prevention
- For his part, the director of the National Transplant Organization (ONT), Rafael Matesan, has transferred the support of the Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality to the celebration of World Kidney Day, an international initiative that is celebrated in many countries. Matesanz has stressed that “transplantation is success after failure” and has indicated that the priority of the ONT in renal matters is to advance in living donation.
- Last year closed with 240 transplants of this type, representing 10.7% of all kidney transplants, a figure lower than the average for the European Union (19%) and countries such as the United States (36%) or Australia (40%). In Spain the same number of patients on dialysis is registered as living with a functioning transplant and currently between 15 and 20% of patients on dialysis are on the waiting list.
- On behalf of the group of nurses, the president of the Spanish Nephrology Nursing Society (SEDEN), María Jesús Rollán, stressed the importance of prevention, since “delaying the entry of a patient on dialysis for just one year can mean a saving of between 20,000 and 30,000 euros a year”.
- For those affected, the president of the National Federation of Associations for the Fight against Kidney Diseases (ALCER), Alejandro Toledo, has indicated that the National Health System is good for treating acute disease processes, but not so much for diseases chronic diseases, such as kidney diseases”. In his opinion, there is still a long way to go in prevention, which is why he has called for the implementation of strategies in this regard.