Nearly 80 percent of young people show signs of a deadly health condition – and most are unaware, a study suggests.
Researchers in Boston analyzed data from more than 1,000 adults in their 20s and found that most were already on course for heart disease, America’s biggest killer.
In their study, the researchers said as many as 80 percent of participants were classified as having Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome, a newly named disorder that recognizes how complications such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes affect multiple organs simultaneously – including the heart, kidneys and brain – rather than just one alone.
These organ systems are connected and function together. When one is functioning poorly, it can make the others worse, creating a cycle that puts health at risk.
CKM generally causes no symptoms in the early stages, meaning many patients do not realize they have it. There are four stages to the complication, and people can spend decades in the earlier stages before the complication advances.
Nationwide, an estimated 90 percent of Americans have CKM, but only about one in 10 has ever heard of it.
Additional results showed nearly 40 percent were estimated to have high blood pressure, kidney disease or a thickening of their arteries, which can all cause no symptoms.
About four percent were also estimated to have arteries about a decade older than their actual age.
Researchers in Boston analyzed data from thousands of adults for their study
Dr Nilay Shah, co-author and a cardiologist at Northwestern University, said: ‘All of these organs and body functions are related and CKM helps us understand how well these body systems are functioning.
‘So many of the components of CKM are starting to affect people at younger ages – as early as young adulthood, or even adolescence.’
In the study, published in the journal Circulation: Population Health and Outcomes, researchers analyzed data from 1,283 people in their 20s.
Participants were overweight and were more likely to be from urban or disadvantaged backgrounds, follow a poor diet and were less likely to exercise.
Overall, 40.2 percent were diagnosed with CKM stage one. This stage generally has no symptoms, but is defined as having excess body fat.
That is when someone is considered overweight on the BMI scale or to have a waist circumference above 34.6 inches (in) for women or 40 in for men.
A further 36 percent were diagnosed with CKM stage two, which is when patients also develop high blood pressure, which typically has no symptoms, and other conditions such as diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
Warning signs of diabetes include a constant thirst, losing weight without trying, tiredness and feeling irritable or moody. Kidney disease may not trigger warning signs in the early stages, but when it becomes more advanced patients may have nausea, vomiting, a loss of appetite and sleep problems.
A further three percent of participants were diagnosed with CKM stage three, which is when plaque starts to build up in major blood vessels and warning signs of heart strain appear in blood tests.
Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist at Boston Medical Center who led the study, said: ‘The study shows that CKM syndrome staging… [is] complementary for identifying adults younger than age 30 who may be on the fast track for arterial injury, plaque build-up and, ultimately, at higher risk for future cardiovascular events.’
The researchers recommended that patients diagnosed with CKM, especially at younger ages, receive interventions to reverse the complication.
To do this, they recommended focusing on the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential Eight, or eight tips for leading a healthier life.
These include doing physical activity, avoiding tobacco, maintaining a healthy weight, following healthy eating and sleeping schedules and ensuring healthy levels of cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.
Lloyd-Jones added: ‘For people in their 20s, we want to focus on improving cardiovascular health.
‘Life’s Essential Eight Framework is designed for measuring, monitoring and improving cardiovascular health at any age, but especially in adolescents and young adults.’
Limitations of the study included that it did not use a population that was representative of the age group in their 20s, which may have affected the results.
The study was published in a journal run by the American Heart Association.
