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WASHINGTON (AP) - Hearts and kidneys: If one's diseased, better keep a close eye on the other. Surprising new research shows kidney disease somehow speeds up heart disease well before it has ravaged the kidneys. And perhaps not so surprising, doctors have finally proven that heart disease can trigger kidney destruction, too.
The work, from two studies involving over 50,000 patients, promises to boost efforts to diagnose simmering kidney disease earlier. All it takes are urine and blood tests that cost less than $25, something proponents want to become as routine as cholesterol checks.
"The average patient knows their cholesterol," says Dr. Peter McCullough, preventive medicine chief at Michigan's William Beaumont Hospital. "The average patient has no idea of their kidney function."
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