Prevalence of Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome and Its Relationship With SCORE-2 Risk Score and Body Roundness Index (BRI): A Study From Gaziantep, Turkey

Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic kidney diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality both globally and in Türkiye [1]. The Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome, which defines the shared pathophysiological basis of these conditions, was classified in 2023 by the American Heart Association (AHA) using a stage-based system ranging from 0 to 4 [1,2]. This study aims to present, for the first time from Türkiye, community-based prevalence data on CKM Syndrome within the framework of this new definition.

In a large-scale cross-sectional study conducted in the United States by Zhu et al. in 2024 [3], CKM stages were found to be associated with social determinants such as education, income, housing, and employment. However, to date, no field study has been conducted in Türkiye based on the AHA's CKM staging system.

This study will also examine the correlation between CKM stages and both the SCORE-2 risk score and the Body Roundness Index (BRI). SCORE-2, developed by the European Society of Cardiology, is a reliable model for estimating 10-year cardiovascular risk based on age, sex, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and HDL levels [4,5]. BRI is a novel anthropometric parameter that more sensitively reflects abdominal obesity than body mass index (BMI) [6,7].

With these objectives, the study will:

Provide the first community-based field data on CKM stages in Türkiye,