90 percent of U.S. adults have this syndrome — but most have never heard of it

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2026/07/09/90-percent-us-adults-have-this-syndrome-most-have-never-heard-it/

CKM syndrome is not one disease but rather “a broad disorder that recognizes the overlap between cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic conditions such as diabetes and obesity,” said Muthiah Vaduganathan, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who has conducted landmark studies on CKM syndrome. Doctors have long known that people often have more than one of these conditions at once. CKM syndrome reflects a newer understanding that the very same factors — specifically, extra weight, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, abnormal cholesterol and reduced kidney function — can contribute to the onset and progression of all three types of disease, Vaduganathan said.

Researchers have defined CKM syndrome as a four-stage continuum, reflecting how symptoms and risk factors progressively pile up, raising the likelihood of a heart event or kidney failure.

CKM syndrome affects 90 percent of Americans because it’s broadly defined to capture everyone on the continuum from those who might feel well but have early metabolic risk factors, to those with full-fledged heart disease. “It doesn’t mean that 90 percent of Americans require treatment,” Vaduganathan said. The goal isn’t to overmedicalize but to push prevention: “It’s more that 90 percent of Americans should be aware that they are at least at risk for progression of one or more of these conditions — metabolic, kidney or heart — and that early lifestyle management can help.”