Potential Benefits of Remission of High Childhood BMI Keep Increasing

Obesity is a chronic disease defined by excess adiposity that presents a risk to health (1). As a consequence of the rise in obesity prevalence, diabetes, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevalence have also increased. Recently, the American Heart Association released a definition of a combined cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome: “CKM syndrome is a systemic disorder characterized by pathophysiological interactions among metabolic risk factors, CKD, and the cardiovascular system, leading to multiorgan dysfunction and a high rate of adverse cardiovascular outcomes; CKM syndrome includes both individuals at risk for CVD due to the presence of metabolic risk factors, CKD, or both and individuals with existing CVD that is potentially related to or complicates metabolic risk factors or CKD” (2). Although treatment of the individual components may slow disease progression, the conditions are not typically curable (3,4), highlighting the need for prevention. Evidence clearly supports the premise that adiposity is the common underlying cause of CKM syndrome (5).