NEW YORK, Oct 212: Nearly 90% of adults in the United States are at risk for a serious health condition called cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome, yet most have never heard of it, according to a recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll for the American Heart Association (AHA).

CKM syndrome is a medical term that describes how heart disease, kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity are all closely connected. While these conditions have often been treated as separate issues, health experts now recognize that they can worsen each other when they occur together. The AHA officially defined CKM syndrome in October 2023 to raise awareness about this growing health concern.

According to Mass General Brigham, “These health conditions were previously considered separate problems and are often managed separately. With this new designation, the AHA wants people to understand that the conditions are closely connected.”

To diagnose CKM syndrome, doctors assess certain health risk factors and place individuals on a scale from Stage 0 to Stage 4, based on guidelines from the Cleveland Clinic:

A study published in JAMA in 2024 revealed that nearly 9 in 10 U.S. adults have at least one risk factor for CKM syndrome. These include:

The AHA says that when these risk factors appear together, they raise the risk of serious complications such as heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure more than any of them would on their own.

Fortunately, lifestyle changes such as healthier eating habits and increased physical activity can help prevent or manage the condition. Cardiologist Dr. Nidhi Kumar told CBS New York in 2023 that about one-third of Americans already have three or more risk factors contributing to CKM syndrome.

“When we think of danger in medicine, people often think of words like 'cancer' or 'COVID,' but chronic conditions like CKM are actually the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S.,” Dr. Kumar said.

Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, the AHA’s Chief Medical Officer for Prevention, stressed that it is common to have overlapping heart, kidney, and metabolic risk factors. He said it's encouraging that nearly three-quarters of people who took the AHA’s survey understood the importance of the condition once it was explained and wanted to learn more.

Looking ahead, experts at the Cleveland Clinic say they hope treatment for CKM syndrome will become more holistic, focusing on the entire person rather than treating one system at a time.

The survey, conducted in August 2025, included responses from around 4,000 U.S. adults, providing new insights into public awareness of this widespread but little-known condition.