Raising awareness and educating individuals on the most important risk factors plays a key role in preventing kidney diseases.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive loss in kidney function over a period of months or years. Kidneys have about a million tiny filters, called nephrons. If nephrons are damaged, they stop working. After a certain point, the nephrons that are left cannot filter your blood well enough to keep you healthy. CKD is emerging to be an important chronic disease in India. The important reason is the rapidly increasing incidence of hypertension and diabetes.
As per the recent data estimated incidence of (ESRD) End stage Renal disease i.e. CKD stage 5 in India to be 229 per million population, and >1 lakh new patient enters renal replacement programs annually in India. The global burden of CKD is increasing and is projected to become the 5th most common cause of years of life lost globally by 2040.
Patients with CKD stage 5 require a kidney transplant to live a better life. According to the Ministry of Health, the estimated annual requirement for kidneys ranges between 1 lakh to 2 lakhs with only 5,000 -6,000 transplants actually happening in reality. At 0.26 per million, India has among the lowest rate of organ donation. On average, 5 lakh Indians die every year due to lack of organs. Due to this pandemic, organ donation has further gone down. Hence, I request all to come forward and pledge your kidney.
This year, World Kidney Day continues to raise awareness of the increasing burden of kidney diseases worldwide and to strive for kidney health for everyone, everywhere. Primary prevention of kidney disease requires the modification of risk factors, including diabetes mellitus and hypertension, unhealthy diets, structural abnormalities of the kidney and urinary tracts. Raising awareness and educating individuals on the most important risk factors and preventative measures for kidney disease is hence important so as to reduce the burden of kidney disease.
Risk Factors:
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Smoking
- Being over 50 years old
- Family history of kidney disease
Do you suffer from other kidney diseases? If the answer is YES to one or more of these criteria, it is recommended to consult with the Doctor.
Prevention and Care:
- Keep fit, be active – This helps to maintain an ideal body weight, reduce the blood pressure and the risk of Chronic Kidney Disease.
- Eat a healthy diet - Reduce salt intake. The recommended sodium intake is 5-6 grams of salt per day. This includes the salt already in your foods (around a teaspoon).
- Avoid smoking - Smoking slows the flow of blood to the kidneys. Smoking also increases the risk of kidney cancer by about 50 per cent.
- Take appropriate fluid intake - Normally this means 8 cups, approximately 2 litres per day for a healthy person in a comfortable climate condition.
- Avoid taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory/pain-killer pills regularly - Common drugs such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDS)/ pain-killer can harm the kidneys if taken regularly.
- Check and control your blood sugar
- Check and control your blood pressure.
(The author of this article is a consultant - Nephrologist and the views expressed are his own)
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