INVC NEWS
While chronic kidney disease is the 17th leading cause of global deaths, it is the 8th leading cause of death in India. In a span of 10 to 15 years, deaths due to kidney failure has doubled in India, with an estimation of over 1.3 lakh deaths in the age group of 15 to 69 years in 2015.
As one of the major and growing reasons of early death in India, kidney disease is slowing becoming a national concern. “People with kidney failure are left with two options. Either they can go for dialysis or kidney transplant. Unfortunately, we see about 150-200 patients with kidney failure in a month. We also see approximately 200-250 new cases of CKD in our hospital on a monthly basis, which gives an idea of the number of cases we might encounter in future. There is an urgent need to have active awareness campaigns focusing around kidney health and kidney diseases, so that the burden on dialysis and need for transplant reduces. It is very unfortunate for patients who want to opt for transplant but do not get a donor, and thereby have to be put on dialysis meanwhile.”Said Dr. P N Gupta, Chief of Nephrology, Paras Hospitals Gurgaon
So what could be leading to increased incidence of failing kidneys? Kidney failures are most commonly caused by various health problems that damage kidneys. These include diabetes, hypertension, various infections that cause chronicinflammation of kidneys, chronic interstitial nephritis, and formation of renal stones, to name a few.
“Multiple health conditions and diseases can lead to kidney failures. Other than bacterial and viral infections, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and hypertension are the foremost reasons for kidney failures. Being one of the leading nations with high number of patients suffering from these diseases, the chances of kidney infections are high in the country. Only in Gurgaon, around 20 to 22% people are obese, which is the primary factor for causing diabetes and hypertension. In fact around 20% of Gurgaon men suffer from hypertension. Other health conditions like loss of blood flow due to various factors such as heart attack, cardiovascular issues, liver failure, dehydration, infections like sepsis, hypertension and anti-inflammatory medication, all can lead to kidney failure.”
Amongst other causes, problems related to urine elimination affect kidneys badly. Colon, cervical, and bladder cancers block passage of flow of urine, causing irrepairable damage to kidneys. Other conditions include kidney stones, damage to nerves linked with bladder control, and blood clots in urinary tract. Drugs, smoking, and alcohol consumption aggravates most of these conditions and the damage to the organ.
It is important to be aware of the gamut of conditions that lead to kidney failure because diseases related to kidney are infamous for progressing slowly and underlying a major condition. The disease starts revealing symptoms at a later stage. Therefore, any of the overall conditions if already ailing an individual should be an alert for getting periodic tests done to check the health of these vital organs.
