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A new research examines the contribution of the effects of kidney disease in its chronic stages into heart conditions and cardiovascular death. Kidney disease affects approximately 31 million people living in the U.S.

One of the leading causes of death are chronic kidney diseases which sometimes go undetected, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) said in an article of the Healthline . The kidney illness, dubbed as a 'silent disease' occurs 14 percent in the total population in the U.S. where 660,000 people are having the early stages of kidney failure.

A team of researchers led by Dr. Bernadette Thomas from the University of Washington in Seattle, studied and investigated the prevalence of the effects of kidney disease to a person's heart condition and cardiovascular health, the WebMD reports.

According to the study, there are five stages of chronic kidney disease and each stage corresponds to different degrees of kidney function ranging from stage one, normal kidney function to kidney failure at its early stages and a severe kidney failure which often leads to a kidney transplant.

The stages considered in the study were those of the second to the fifth stage, all of which corresponds to mild to severe loss of kidney function and kidney failure.

The team found out that out of the 2.2 million deaths in 2013, 1.2 million were caused by cardiovascular problems springing forth first from kidney diseases. When one starts having kidney disease, one starts to fall behind body mass index, increased systolic blood pressure and high fasting blood glucose, which are all premarket of diabetes and these conditions are candidates for heart problems.

The researchers also studied and looked into the possibility of reducing kidney function ranked in the comparison of metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the time of the period the research was studied.

The numbers from the study were calculated using the metric of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) from the valid results in both developed and developing countries throughout the world.

The research was published at the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology last April 13.