In Poland, chronic kidney disease affects more than four million people, and the same amount is at risk of it – reminds the Nephrology Section of the Polish Medicine Chamber of Commerce (Nephron). Thursday is World Kidney Day.
Nefron (associating approximately 160 operators of public and non-public dialysis stations) begins a nationwide educational and information campaign aimed at persuading people to conduct regular preventive examinations. The Nephrology section emphasizes that most people with kidney disease are unaware of this. Patients usually go to doctors only when the poisoning of the body is so large that it affects the functioning of other organs.
Regardless of the fact that kidney diseases are often mildly symptomatic for many years, the main factor of late diagnosis is the fact that doctors do not take these diseases into account in the diagnostic process. Still, kidney disease is often diagnosed at the stage in which the only form of treatment is dialysis, which usually takes place three times a week for four or five hours at a dialysis station, emphasizes Nefron’s CEO, Dariusz Aksamit.
Such a late diagnosis is not only the loss of the possibility of an earlier cure or delay in the progression of kidney disease, but also a much greater risk of complications, especially from the cardiovascular system. It is also a shorter survival compared to patients prepared for renal replacement therapy as part of specialist nephrological care – he adds.
If kidney disease is detected early, it is possible to apply several times cheaper and effective treatment, the so-called nephroprotective, with the help of diet and medications. Thanks to it, the necessity of dialysis or transplantation can be delayed even by several years.
Early detection of kidney diseases is simple and cheap tests – the so-called the size of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which is expressed in milliliters per minute and indicates the filtration capacity of the kidneys, and the assessment of the presence of proteins (albumin) in the urine (proteinuria), which are an indicator of kidney damage. The albumin test costs PLN 3, and the GFR assessment can be performed during a routine urine test.
These tests should be performed at least once a year, especially by people from groups at increased risk of kidney disease, mainly diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and people who have a family risk of kidney disease and heart disease. (PAP)