Your Heart and Urologic System: How One Affects the Other

By: Kenneth Lessans, M.D.

Here’s a heart-racing figure: One-third of Philadelphians live with hypertension, or high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association. And in Southeast Philadelphia, heart disease is the leading cause of death.

Your urinary system might help prevent that.

Cardiovascular and urological health are linked in several critical ways, research shows. This means that changes in any part of your urinary system, from overactive bladder to erectile dysfunction, might also suggest a heart condition.

With February being American Heart Month, you now have access to a number of helpful sources that explain the warning signs of heart disease and provide wellness tips to prevent it. So we’re doing our part. Regardless of where you live in Greater Philadelphia, we hope you benefit from the following heart-urology health connections.

Blood Is Thicker Than Urine: Heart-Urological Relationships

Although you have many body parts, all of them – bones, muscle, tissue, and organs – work together like a machine. If one cog wears down, soon others will as well.

Same goes for your urology and cardiovascular systems. If something goes awry in one area, the shift might eventually trouble the other, and the symptoms will announce themselves.

Following are five urology conditions that can sound the alarm of a cardiovascular disorder, and vice versa:

Erectile dysfunction (ED) – More than 50% of men with ED have a history of cardiovascular disease. The connection is blood flow: ED, the inability to consistently maintain an erection, occurs because your arteries cannot push enough blood to your penis. Coronary heart disease, similarly, occurs when plaque builds in the arteries, cutting down blood flow to the heart and impairing arterial function. Because the inability to expand blood vessels occurs first in the penis, ED remains an early predictor of heart disease. Researchers also link ED to Type 2 diabetes, because high blood sugar can damage blood vessels and nerves. Find more information about ED here.

Kidney disease – Your kidneys and heart rely highly on each other because your kidneys clean blood of waste and extra fluid. Your heart pumps that blood and the oxygen it carries to the kidneys. Without enough oxygen, your kidneys’ performance suffers. If they are unable to filter your blood sufficiently, your heart has to work harder. Heart disease, therefore, can directly influence the risk of kidney disease. Scientists have in fact coined a term describing the connection – cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome. CKM represents a group of health ailments: heart disease (including high blood pressure), kidney disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Kidney stones – Due to the conditions that cause kidney stones, researchers associate them with higher risks of heart attack. Kidney stones are densely concentrated minerals, such as salt and calcium, that bind and form painful crystals in the kidneys. Studies suggest that people with recurring kidney stones might also have raised levels of calcium deposits in their arteries, elevating the risk of heart disease. Further, kidney stones typically form due to dehydration, and water is a main component of blood. Without enough, your blood thickens and is more difficult for your heart to pump. Click here to learn more about kidney stones.

Urinary tract infection (UTI) – While a UTI might not itself be a manifestation of heart disease, ongoing research finds that the bacterial infection, which enters through the urethra, can temporarily increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke. In part, this is because UTIs intensify inflammation – the body’s response to fight infection. Prolonged inflammation, such as from recurring UTIs, can impair the plaque in arteries, putting it at risk of bursting and forming blood clots. One study found UTIs were connected with more than triple the usual risk of stroke within 30 days of infection. Read up on UTIs here.

Overactive bladder (OAB) – As many as 50% of heart failure patients also suffer from urinary incontinence and OAB. However, urinary incontinence and/or OAB are not necessarily clues of heart disease – it’s the other way around. Research, including a report in Renal and Urology News, identifies cardiovascular disease as a risk factor for OAB. This is partly because heart disease correlates with conditions that contribute to OAB, such as obesity. Also, some heart medications, including diuretics (water pills), can increase urination and/or affect bladder function. Our OAB page explains more.

5 Quick Tips for Heart and Urinary Wellness

To help prevent the above conditions, or to limit their symptoms, we recommend the following practices:

• Talk to a doctor about your weight. Being overweight or underweight can contribute to the risk of heart disease and urology conditions especially of the kidneys. Consult a professional about a healthy diet for your age, gender, and body type.
• Get a little exercise every day. It gets back to the common denominator of blood flow. Movement improves blood circulation, which strengthens your heart and kidneys as well as enhances your ability to get an erection.
• Drink more water. Because water prevents blood from thickening, your heart needs it to more easily pump blood throughout your body, including to your urinary system. Your muscles also need blood to work well, so be sure to drink extra water when exercising.
• Eat less salt. Your body needs sodium, but many packaged foods include high doses of it. Too much salt can build in your blood and make your heart pump harder (blood pressure), while your kidneys are tasked with added filtering. Salt also affects you urinary calcium levels, a contributor to kidney stones.
• Squeeze your pelvis – Kegel exercises, which involve squeezing your pelvic muscles as if you are holding in urine, can improve OAB, pelvic floor prolapse, and even ED in men. Improvements in any of these areas will benefit your heart, and Kegels can help elevate you heart rate.

Whether you are among the Philadelphians at risk of heart disease or not, you should try to live each day with your heart and your urinary system in mind. As long as you have both, one will always affect the other.

To learn more about a range of urinary issues, access our library of educational webinars here. They’re free!