Extreme heat due to climate crisis puts people at greater risk of kidney disease

Researchers are finding heat-related illnesses can also contribute to heart disease and cognitive impairment

At a dialysis center in Atlanta, Lauren Kasper tended to patients resting in hospital beds, some too sick to be transferred to a chair. Many arrived in wheelchairs or walked with canes, their bodies weakened from kidney disease.

As she hooked them up to dialysis machines, Kasper, a nurse practitioner, was struck by how young many of her patients were.