Last Updated on May 4, 2026 by Daily News Staff

Heart Risks Go Beyond the Heart: Don’t Forget to Check Blood Sugar and Kidney Health

(Feature Impact) Diabetes and kidney disease are major risk factors for heart disease, yet many cases are undiagnosed. In fact, most people don’t realize their heart, kidney and metabolic health – how the body creates, uses and stores energy – are connected. Understanding these connections can help you take steps toward protecting your long-term health.

Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome is a health condition that includes heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes and obesity. Many people don’t realize they’re at risk, though, because they aren’t aware of health risks beyond the heart. Almost 1 in 4 U.S. adults with diabetes are unaware they have it, according to a 2026 statistics update from the American Heart Association. In addition, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that as many as 9 in 10 adults with chronic kidney disease don’t know they’re living with the condition.

Learning about CKM syndrome can be a helpful step in understanding your overall health picture.

How are CKM conditions connected?

Heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes have shared risk factors – including high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar; excess weight; and reduced kidney function – and they’re closely linked. Having one condition often increases the likelihood of developing the others.

“We are encouraging people to become aware of the connection between conditions so they and their health care team can think about their overall health beyond individual conditions,” said Stacey E. Rosen, M.D., FAHA, volunteer president of the American Heart Association, executive director of the Katz Institute for Women’s Health and senior vice president of women’s health at Northwell Health. “Understanding the connection helps you better prevent complications through lifestyle changes and appropriate treatment.”

The biggest health threats from CKM syndrome are disability and death from heart disease and stroke, which make up the “cardiovascular” part of CKM. The “metabolic” part includes diabetes and obesity. Kidney disease is closely linked with both metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.

How common is CKM syndrome?

CKM-related risks are common. Nearly 90% of U.S. adults have at least one risk factor for CKM syndrome. The 2026 statistics report showed about half of all U.S. adults have high blood pressure, about 1 in 3 has high total cholesterol, more than half have prediabetes or diabetes, about 1 in 7 has kidney disease and more than half have a high waist circumference.

These risks often develop slowly, with few or no symptoms at first, but you can stay informed. Rosen emphasizes regular screening of your cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic health, which can catch problems early.

“Due to the current risk factor rates, everyone could benefit from being screened this way,” she said.

Regular check-ins with your health care team can offer a clearer picture of your CKM health. They can check your:

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• Blood pressure
• Cholesterol panel (total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol, HDL (good) cholesterol and triglycerides)
• Blood glucose (blood sugar), measured in either the short term as fasting glucose or long term as A1C
• Body weight and size, measured by body mass index and waist circumference
• Kidney function, using both UACR and eGFR

These results can be used in the PREVENT online calculator to estimate your risk for cardiovascular disease over the next 10 or 30 years. CKM syndrome can often be prevented and improved with healthy daily habits like those in Life’s Essential 8 and science-based treatments.

The CKM Health Initiative was introduced by the American Heart Association to raise awareness of the connections between CKM syndrome conditions and improve diagnosis rates. It’s supported by founding sponsors Novo Nordisk and Boehringer Ingelheim, supporting sponsors Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and Bayer, and champion sponsor DaVita.

Visit Heart.org/myCKMhealth to learn more about CKM health, including screening and treatment options.

SOURCE:

American Heart Association

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

Join the Fight Against ALS: Register and Make a Difference

(Feature Impact) Every year, doctors tell more than 5,000 Americans they have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS. It is a life-changing diagnosis.

Still, it’s hard to estimate the total number of ALS cases in the United States. No one knows what causes most cases of ALS, something the U.S. National ALS Registry is working to change.

In honor of ALS Awareness Month, learn more about the registry, how the information is used and how to enroll if you have ALS.

What is ALS?

ALS is a disease that affects the nerve cells that make muscles work in the body. This disease makes the nerve cells stop working and die. The nerves lose the ability to trigger specific muscles, which causes the muscles to become weak and leads to paralysis.

What is the registry?

“The National ALS Registry is a program of, by and for those living with ALS,” said Dr. Paul Mehta, principal investigator of the Registry. “The program collects, manages and analyzes data about people with ALS in the United States. It includes data and information provided by individuals who choose to register and complete the risk factor surveys.”

What is its purpose?

The main purpose is to gather information that can be used in the fight against ALS. The information is used to:

• Estimate the number of new cases of ALS diagnosed each year
• Estimate the number of people who have ALS at any given point in time
• Better understand who gets ALS and what factors affect the disease
• Enhance research that could improve care for people with ALS

How do researchers use the data?

Researchers can use the data to look for disease pattern changes over time and try to identify whether there are common risk factors among people with ALS. Since 2010, the registry has funded more than a dozen studies exploring potential ALS risk factors.

What does participation look like?

Individuals with ALS are encouraged to share their stories, enhancing ALS data and supporting research efforts. People living with ALS can help the National ALS Registry by completing up to 18 risk factor surveys, covering topics such as occupational history and environmental exposures, which help create a more complete picture of their ALS story.

How can someone join?

Anyone living with ALS can enroll. By joining and taking the risk factor surveys, individuals living with ALS can help future generations.

Get started at cdc.gov/als.

SOURCE:

National ALS Registry

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

Carey S. Cadieux, Binghamton University, State University of New York

When the U.S. Department of Justice moved to reclassify medical marijuana to a Schedule III drug on April 23, 2026, it set the stage for a vast amount of medical research that has been hobbled for decades by its more restrictive Schedule I classification.

The Justice Department also called for an expedited federal rescheduling process, with proceedings expected to begin in late June 2026, but for now cannabis at the federal level remains a Schedule I drug.

I’m an associate professor of nursing and I edited a textbook for nurses about providing care with cannabis. Cannabis is the umbrella term for the plant genus that includes both marijuana and hemp – two varieties of the same plant distinguished primarily by their content of THC, one of the active components of cannabis.

Moving cannabis to a Schedule III drug ushers in the end of the cannabis prohibition era and the beginning of the regulation era, potentially creating promising opportunities around research and new therapeutics.

How are drugs regulated by ‘schedule’?

The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 categorizes all substances regulated under existing federal law into one of five schedules. The act regulates the manufacturing, importation, possession, use and distribution of substances on each schedule.

Several factors determine schedule placement, including the drug’s medical use, scientific evidence of its benefits and pharmacological effects, patterns and history of abuse, public health risk level, degree of physical or psychological addiction potential, and whether the drug can be used to make another controlled substance.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s rescheduling of marijuana will move it from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, defined as having a high risk for abuse and no accepted medical use, to a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act. While still tightly regulated, Schedule III drugs are considered to have moderate to low risk for physical and psychological dependence and to have some medical benefits.

Other Schedule I drugs include heroin, psilocybin, LSD, peyote and MDMA, or ecstasy. These drugs cannot be dispensed or prescribed, with some exceptions. Current Schedule III drugs include ketamine, anabolic steroids, testosterone, products with less than 90 milligrams of codeine per dosage unit and some cannabinoids.

The move to reclassify medical marijuana products as Schedule III drugs applies only to those products certified by state-level medical cannabis programs. All other cannabis products remain a federal Schedule I drug, including those available from states’ recreational cannabis programs.

Impacts of cannabis reclassification

This legal order acknowledges that medical marijuana has some medical value and asserts that it has a lower potential for abuse than under the previous Schedule I classification.

The reclassification also ensures that state-registered medical cannabis patients continue to be permitted to purchase medical cannabis products without changes to their current certification or recommendation.

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One of the challenges with this new law is that states have not standardized medical cannabis regulations, and each state will have its own quality and testing standards. In Maine, for instance, medical cannabis is not tested for molds, fungus, heavy metals or pesticides, while recreational cannabis is.

This means that the Schedule III medical cannabis in Maine could be contaminated, while the state’s testing of recreational cannabis makes it much safer to consume.

What are the implications for marijuana research?

For decades, researchers have struggled to conduct high-quality research studies due to their lack of access to the cannabis products that patients actually use and restrictions on their processes.

With the reclassification, researchers who are registered with the DEA to research cannabis will be able to obtain cannabis flower and plant material, as well as manufactured cannabis products, such as tinctures and edibles, directly from state-licensed businesses that are DEA-registered.

This means researchers will no longer need to rely on the federal DEA registry for access to cannabis products for research, which were often inferior in quality and variety in comparison to the everyday products medical cannabis patients typically have access to. Instead, they will be able to study cannabis products that patients use in daily life, such as vapes and various edible products.

This shift in access will now allow researchers to undertake the gold standard of research approaches: the randomized controlled trial.

Randomized controlled trials will help researchers like my colleagues determine how effective cannabis is in treating people with complex medical needs. This includes patients who experience nausea and pain while undergoing cancer treatments, multiple sclerosis patients with severe muscle spasm and stiffness, and chronic pain patients who strive to find relief without using opioids.

Might rescheduling send mixed signals?

Rescheduling may lead people to believe that cannabis is safe for all people to consume.

However, a growing body of research points to possible adverse effects from cannabis use, particularly in vulnerable groups, such as people who are pregnant, adolescents, people with preexisting mental health conditions such as schizophrenia or psychosis, and those with cardiac issues.

Cannabis can also lead to adverse drug interactions. Therefore, medical patients should use it with discretion and under the guidance of a healthcare professional.

For most medical cannabis patients, THC doses should start low and gradually be increased.

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Rescheduling will be a big step toward helping researchers build a greatly needed solid body of evidence around both the benefits and potential harms of cannabis. But rescheduling should not be interpreted as a signal that cannabis is harmless.

Carey S. Cadieux, Associate Professor of Nursing, Binghamton University, State University of New York

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

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