Diabetes, obesity & metabolismApr 22, 2025

How heart failure and chronic kidney disease affect each other

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

Approximately 50% of all individuals with (HF) also have (CKD).

CKD and HF often coexist and can worsen each other, creating a cycle of declining health.
Common risk factors for both conditions include age, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and smoking.
Having both CKD and HF significantly increases the risk of hospitalization and mortality compared to having either condition alone.
Understanding the systemic nature of these diseases can enhance treatment effectiveness for patients with both conditions.
Certain medications, such as renin-angiotensin system inhibitors and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors, play important roles in managing CKD and HF.

Simplified

(CKD) and (HF) are two globally prevalent, independent, long-term conditions, which often coexist in an individual and display a bidirectional yet interconnected relationship. The presence of CKD often leads to the development of HF and vice versa, which propagates the worsening of each disease, reflecting an intertwined disease cycle. Both HF and CKD share common risk factors, such as increasing age, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and smoking. Data show that approximately half of all people with HF also have CKD, which impacts patient burden and quality of life due to a significantly greater risk of hospitalization and death, compared with those that have either CKD or HF. To maximize treatment effectiveness in individuals with both HF and CKD, healthcare professionals should recognize that these two diseases are systemic conditions, representing organ-specific manifestations of similar underlying processes. It is also essential to understand the role of renin-angiotensin system inhibitors, sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors, the nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist finerenone, and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists in managing these conditions. Lifestyle modifications should also be recommended. This review discusses factors contributing to the interplay between HF and CKD and the key role of healthcare professionals in providing appropriate treatment for the co-existing diseases.

Key numbers

9.1%

Prevalence

Global prevalence of in 2017.

64 million

Prevalence

Number of people affected by worldwide.

50%

in Patients

Proportion of patients who also have .

Full Text

We can’t show the full text here under this license.

View Full Text ↗

Funding

Competing interests

Anuradha Lala has received research support and honoraria from Abiomed, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim/Eli Lilly, Cytokinetics, Cordio Medical, Lexicon, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sequana Medical, Tenax and Zoll. Adeera Levin received research support and consulting fees for scientific advisory boards from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Novo Nordisk and Otsuka. All monies were donated to educational and research organisations. Kamlesh Khunti has received consultant fees, speaker fees or grants for investigator‐initiated studies from Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Embecta, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Nestle Health Science, Novo Nordisk, Oramed Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi‐Aventis and Servier and was a member of the KDIGO and ADA Type 2 Diabetes CKD 2020 and 2022 Guideline group.

PubMed

How heart failure and chronic kidney disease affect each other

Abstract

Key numbers

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the glp-1 therapies brief

Abstract

Key numbers

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the glp-1 therapies brief