Washington, Nov 6 Poor kidney function may increase an individual's risk for suffering heart failure, heart attack, peripheral arterial disease and early death, reveals a new study.

Researchers revealed that to evaluate heart health, clinicians should look at their patients' current level of kidney function and also changes in kidney function over time.

During that study, Dr Michael Shlipak from San Francisco VA Medical Centre and University of California, San Francisco and Dr Mark Sarnak from Tufts-New England Medical Centre examined elderly people with help of new blood test of kidney function, called cystatin C.

They looked for links between changes in kidney function during a period of seven years with the incidence of heart failure, heart attack, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease (obstruction of large arteries in the arms and legs) during the subsequent eight years.

The findings revealed that those with rapid kidney decline had 32 pct increased risk of experiencing heart failure, 48pct increased risk of having a heart attack, and 67 pct increased risk of developing peripheral arterial disease.

The researchers identified an association between rapid kidney function decline and heart complications in patients with and without chronic kidney disease.

Treatments that slow the decline of kidney function and stabilize it in the normal range, before kidney disease develops, could have substantial health benefits.

The study appears in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). (ANI)