What is kidney disease?
Signs of kidney damage are noted in every tenth inhabitant of the Earth. But many people with chronic kidney disease do not even suspect that they are sick for a long time. The insidiousness of kidney diseases lies in the fact that they can not make themselves felt for many years, do not cause any complaints, so they can only be detected by passing a medical examination, passing urine and blood tests.
If the disease is not taken under control and allowed to progress, end-stage renal failure develops over time, that is, the kidneys cease to perform vital functions. At this stage of the disease, serious complaints already appear, but the moment when it was possible to reverse it or at least slow down the progression has already been missed.
The only treatment is renal replacement therapy, i.e. dialysis (artificial blood purification) or a donor kidney transplant. The number of people in the world who need such treatment is doubling every 10 years.
Thus, there is a paradoxical situation:
- The prevalence of kidney diseases in the population is high, but the awareness of their risk factors, measures to protect the kidneys, alertness of the population and even doctors is low.
- There are simple and affordable methods for early diagnosis, but in a significant proportion of patients with chronic kidney disease, it is still detected at a stage when dialysis is necessary for health reasons.
- Reliable and non-burdensome methods of treatment have been developed that save the kidneys from the development of end-stage renal failure (nephroprotective therapy), but in many cases they are not used or applied with a delay and therefore are ineffective.
- The number of patients requiring hemodialysis is doubling every 10 years, placing a heavy burden on the health care system. However, practically no attention is paid to the prevention of kidney disease.
