Kidney Research UK

World Kidney Day March 9 2006

Kidney Research UK supporting inaugural World Kidney Day

In response to the growing worldwide epidemic of kidney disease, Kidney Research UK is today helping to launch the first ever World Kidney Day.

The campaign follows global efforts to improve recognition of a disease which affects more than 500 million people worldwide and is expected to claim the lives of 36 million people by the year 2015. In the UK alone, up to 1 in 10 people suffer from some form of chronic kidney disease (CKD), most of whom don’t even know it.

The theme of this year’s World Kidney Day is early detection and prevention, with the focus on health professionals, Parliamentarians and the general public to be aware of the risk factors for CKD. Unlike many other diseases, kidney disease can often go unnoticed until a late stage, by which time the kidneys may have already failed. Early detection is therefore vital to prevent further kidney damage, and delay the possible onset of kidney failure.

While kidney failure kills thousands of people every year, even a small presence of kidney disease is known to have important consequences for health and life expectancy, and is a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. Through awareness programmes such as Kidney Research UK's ABLE project, which focuses on the high incidence of kidney disease among at risk groups, it has been shown that education and early detection really can make a difference to people's health. The challenge now is to expand these programmes to reflect the ever-increasing number of people at risk from CKD.

Those at high risk of chronic kidney disease include: People with diabetes (the single biggest cause of kidney disease) People with high blood pressure (the second biggest cause) People over 50 years old People from Afro-Caribbean and Asian groups People who are overweight People who smoke People with a family history of kidney disease Anyone who suspects they may be at risk from kidney disease should seek advice from their GP, where simple kidney function tests can be carried out.

Professor Charles Pusey, Chairman of Kidney Research UK says: ''The huge rise of people with kidney disease in the UK poses a very alarming threat, and the real challenge now lies in the prevention, recognition and effective treatment of the disease in its early stages. There is also an urgent need for more research into the mechanisms of kidney injury and more clinical trials to find new ways to treat the disease before it reaches endemic proportions.”

World Kidney Day is being led by the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF) and the International Society of Nephrology (ISN). Promoting early detection and prevention represents the first step towards achieving the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended global goal of reducing chronic disease related death rates by 2% per year over the next decade.

For more information, please visit www.ifkf.net and click on the World Kidney Day link.

For more information on Kidney Research UK please click here for a contact number.