Today (March 10) is recognized as the “World Kidney Day- the day when we should not only celebrate, but also must raise awareness on the importance of early diagnosis, prevention and timely treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The kidneys are two important organs, responsible for filtering and removing excess fluid from the body, filtering out all the unneeded electrolytes and waste from the blood, resulting in urine production. They are also returning the cleaned blood back into the circulation.
Their impact doesn’t stop here, as they are also producing important hormones directed to the daily regulation of blood pressure, formation of erythrocytes, keeping the electrolytes equilibrium in balance. The activation of Vitamin D and bone development depend also on their correct functioning.
Syndrome X is well known as a dangerous cluster of particulary interlinked metabolic disorders- all of which affected by genetics, diet, environmental and lifestyle (intrinsic and extrinsic) factors, that lead to elevated morbidity and mortality.
Five metabolic risk factors (obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertonia, hyperglycemia and general prothrombotic state) most commonly clustered together are blamed for its final appearance. Nowadays, metabolic syndrome is recognized as epidemic, affecting 27% of the whole population in the U.S.
A Chinese study published in Diabetes Care (March, 2008) found that the risk of developing chronic kidney disease later in life increases with the number of expressed components of the metabolic syndrome cluster. As known, obesity, diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension, and coronary heart disease constitute the phenotype common to individuals with metabolic syndrome. The authors concluded that patients with four components of the metabolic syndrome cluster had a 1.64-fold increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease, while those with five- a 2.34-fold increased risk. (Tong et al., 2008) In authors' words:
"Physicians should actively assess patients with diabetes for these risk factors and treat them aggressively."
People who suffer from metabolic syndrome are at significantly increased risk of general morbidity and mortality. It is proven that they are three times as likely to die from stroke or heart attack, and twice as likely to die from a coronary event, when compared to people without the syndrome. There are also statistic expectations that up to 80%, or almost 200 million adults worldwide will die of CVD, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF, 2003)
Metabolic syndrome is one of the main predictors of chronic kidney disease later in life, followed by the end-stage of kidney failure, especially in people who are obese, have gout, hypertension, or/and type-2 diabetes. If someone is just obese, he/she is already at a greater risk for a wide range of health issues. But, when combined the risk for kidney disease is geometrically increased.
Abundant experimental data suggest that it is in the exact nature of the metabolic cluster to bring additional morbidity and mortality. Some of the clinical outcomes following the metabolic syndrome appearance are: a) Type 2 diabetes mellitus; b) Cardiovascular disease (CVD); c) Essential hypertension; d) Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS); e) Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; f) Certain forms of cancer; g) Sleep apnea; h) Gout; i) Chronic Kidney Disease with terminal Kidney failure, j) Alzheimer’s disease and many others.
People with metabolic syndrome are at increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease in much higher degree than the average person. Family genetics can also contribute to the risk of appearance of CKD. Considering latest data of the National Center for Health Statistics the chronic kidney disease is the nine leading cause of death in America, being responsible for at around 48,000 deaths in 2008 y.
Recent CDC data show that in 2008 over half a million people started dialysis treatment or directed to kidney transplantation, and another over 110, 000 started their end-stage kidney treatment. The interesting fact is that from every ten patients- seven had either hypertension or diabetes, as diagnosed in their patients’ files.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an advanced stage when both kidneys are highly damaged and cannot filter blood as required. The chronic damage doesn't permit them to function as usual, leading to waist build up, and multiple other health problems as: chronic anemia, cardiovascular disease (CVD), bone dystrophy, etc.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD), as consequence of metabolic syndrome, is converting in a serious health problem around the Globe, leading to terminal health complications, being linked to general morbidity and mortality. According to CDC report (2010) CKD in its final stage is labeled as the "end-stage" renal disease, requiring kidney dialysis or immediate transplantation. Chronically damaged kidneys can place every senior at a greater risk of heart failure, stroke, heart attack, aortic dissection and multiple other cardiovascular diseases.
CKD in its final stage requires kidney dialysis or immediate transplantation. Hence, timely and rapid prevention of obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension and diabetes are maybe the first important steps to kidney disease prevention. While combined in the metabolic syndrome cluster, all of the above increase severely the predictive risk of chronic kidney disease, especially when compared with healthy people.
Changing the diet will be another step to the right direction. In case if poor eating habits or malnutrition are the cause it is imperative that your doctor will be able to determine the exact rate and reason of an eventual nutritional deficiency. There are many chronic inflammatory conditions that able to cause changes in the absorption of nutrients able to also provoke long-term vitamin and mineral deficiencies as for example Crohn’s disease.
Current epidemiology indicates that lower-salt, low glycemic, and low protein diets tend to reduce coronary risk quite markedly in metabolic syndrome and obese subjects, whereas the impact of such diets on leaner subjects (who are less likely to be salt sensitive) is not huge.
Sharing awareness and providing health strategies for prevention are the main goals of the CDCs Chronic Kidney Disease Initiative, working also in collaboration with other governmental agencies and structures, main nephrology clinics, kidney centers and foundations interested in promoting kidney health and prevention and sharing CKD awareness. According to a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey less than 5 percent of the patients in initial stages (1 and 2), 7.5% of stage 3 and 13 - 21% of all patients in advanced stages were aware they had the disease. This year they are concentrated on the connection CKD and cardiovascular diseases.
