Connect the Docs in Cardio-Renal-Metabolic Care

More than 1 billion people worldwide are affected by cardio-renal-metabolic conditions, such as heart failure, chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.^1,2 An integrated care approach – including collaboration between members of the healthcare team – is vital for optimal treatment of these interconnected chronic diseases. In addition to secondary care teams, general practitioners, with their community role and long-term relationships with people living with these conditions, have a vital role to play in delivering this integrated care.

“Our challenge is how we try to understand this roadmap and how we can get better organized around the journey of disease – because this is essential, to implement new roles and new people to take responsibility.” – Prof. Xavier Cos, Primary Care Diabetes Europe; Associate Professor of Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona.

We partnered with four experts in the fields of primary care, cardiology, nephrology, and endocrinology to discuss the interconnectivity of cardio-renal-metabolic conditions, the importance of identifying co-morbidities early, and how healthcare specialists can best collaborate to deliver optimal care.

Watch the informative discussion below between Prof. Xavier Cos, Dr. Janaka Karalliedde, Prof. Marisa Crespo-Leiro and Dr Roberto Pecoits-Filho to learn more about the interconnectivity of heart failure, diabetes, and kidney disease.

Interconnectivity of heart failure, diabetes, and kidney disease

Key takeaways: The role of primary care in Cardio-Renal-Metabolic care

• "Primary care is the most important role in the detection of patients with cardio-renal-metabolic conditions,especially for heart failure.Because they are the closest to the patient, they can identify early referral and intiate treatment as soon as possible." - Professor Marisa Crespo-Leiro
• "The most imporant thing all of  us as healthcare professionals should do, whether we work in hospitals, in the community, is to screen high risk people. People with diabetes for kidney disease, people with cardiovascular disease for kidney disease, people with diabetes for heart failure, for example."
  
  "Identify people, but also intervene and act with evidence-based interventions, be it pharmacological treatments, be it lifestyle advice. And really focus on early identification and early treatment. Because this will improve quality of life." - Dr. Janaka Karalliedde
• "Early identification of chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease is essential for the management of patients with those conditions. Coming in early means that you have higher chances to really be effective in preventing progression of those diseases."
  
  "From a chronic kidney disease perspective this is even perhaps more important because that could mean for a patient, or familes, or even for a healthcare system that you can actually delay that a patient would get to the later stages when chronic kidney diesase really represents a problem. Reducing the risk that a patient would ever need kidney replacement therapies like dialysis and transplantation." - Dr. Roberto Pecoits-Filho

_References:

_{^[1]Schechter, M. et al. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2022:21;104.}

_{² Sundström J, et al. CaReMe CKD. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2022 Jun 30;20: 100438.}