Are your kidneys OK? Detect early to protect kidney health

Joseph A Vassalotti; Anna Francis; Augusto Cesar Soares Dos Santos Jr; Ricardo Correa-Rotter Correa-Rotter; Dina Abdellatif; Li-Li Hsiao; Stefanos Roumeliotis; Ágnes Haris; Latha A. Kumaraswami; Siu-Fai Lui; Alessandro Balducci; Vassilios Liakopoulos

doi:10.21804/28-1-7358

Joseph A Vassalotti Mount Sinai Hospital Department of Medicine-Renal Medicine NY, New York
Anna Francis Queensland Children's Hospital Department of Nephrology 501 Stanley St, South Brisbane, QLD 4101 Queensland
Augusto Cesar Soares Dos Santos Jr Faculdade Ciencias Medicas de Minas Gerais, Brazil Hospital das Clinicas, Ebserh, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Ricardo Correa-Rotter Correa-Rotter Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City
Dina Abdellatif Department of Nephrology, Cairo University Hospital, Cairo,
Li-Li Hsiao Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Stefanos Roumeliotis Second Department of Nephrology, AHEPA University Hospital Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki
Ágnes Haris Nephrology Department, Péterfy Hospital, Budapest
Latha A. Kumaraswami Tamilnad Kidney Research (TANKER) Foundation, Chennai
Siu-Fai Lui Division of Health System, Policy and Management, Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Alessandro Balducci Italian Kidney Foundation Italy, Rome
Vassilios Liakopoulos Second Department of Nephrology, AHEPA University Hospital Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki

Abstract

Early identification of kidney disease can protect kidney health, prevent kidney disease progression and related complications, reduce cardiovascular disease risk and decrease mortality. We must ask “Are your kidneys ok?” using serum creatinine to estimate kidney function and urine albumin to assess for kidney and endothelial damage. Evaluation for causes and risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD) includes testing for diabetes and measurement of blood pressure and body mass index. This World Kidney Day we assert that case-finding in high-risk populations, or even population level screening, can decrease the burden of kidney disease globally. Early-stage CKD is asymptomatic, simple to test for and recent paradigm shifting CKD treatments such as sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors dramatically improve outcomes and favour the cost-benefit analysis for screening or casefinding programs. Despite this, numerous barriers exist, including resource allocation, healthcare funding, healthcare infrastructure and healthcare-professional and population awareness of kidney disease. Coordinated efforts by major kidney non-governmental organisations to prioritise the kidney health agenda for governments and aligning early detection efforts with other current programs will maximise efficiencies.

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