Protect Your Kidneys and Control Diabetes
The mission of World Kidney Day is to raise awareness of the importance of our kidneys to overall health and to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney diseases and its associated health problems worldwide. The objectives of the World Kidney Day 2010 were the followings:
* Raise awareness about our “amazing kidneys”
* Highlight that diabetes and high blood pressure are key risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD)
* Encourage systematic screening of all patients with diabetes and hypertension for CKD
* Encourage preventive behaviours
* Educate medical professionals about their key role in detecting and reducing the risk of CKD, particularly in high risk population
* Stress the important role of local and national health authorities in controlling CKD epidemics. Health authorities worldwide will have to deal with high and escalating costs if no action is taken to treat the growing number of people with CKD. On World Kidney Day all governments are encouraged to take action and invest in further kidney screening
* If detected early, CKD can be treated by reducing other complications and dramatically reduced the growing burden of deaths and cardiovascular disease worldwide
Kidney diseases are silent killers which largely affect the quality of life. There are, however, several easy ways to reduce the risk of developing this kidney disease.
Seven golden rules:
i) Keep fit and active
ii) Keep regular control of your blood sugar level
iii) Monitor your blood pressure
iv) Eat healthy and keep your weight in check
v) Do not smoke
vi) Do not take over the counter pills on regular basis
vii) Check your kidney function if you have one or more of the high risk factors
Diagnosis of CKD with Diabetes:
People with diabetes should be screened regularly for kidney diseases. The two key markers of kidney diseases are eGFR and urine albumin. Kidney diseases are present when eGFR is less than 60 ml/min.
The Americal Diabetic Association (ADA) and National Institute of Health (NIH) recommend that eGFR can be calculated from serum creatinine at least once a year in all people with diabetes.
Urine albumin is measured by comparing amount of albumin to the amount of creatinine in a single urine sample. When the kidneys are healthy, the urine will contain large amount of creatinine but almost no albumin. Even small increase in ratio of albumin to creatinine is a sign of kidney diseases. Kidney diseases is present when urine contain more than 30 mg of albumin per gram of creatinine, with or without decrease eGFR. The ADA and NIH recommend annual assessment of urine albumin excretion to assess kidney damage in all people with type 2 diabetes and people who have type 1 diabetes for 5 years or more.
Good care makes a differencePeople with diabetes should:
* Measure their HbA1C level at least twice a year which should be kept less than 7%
* Regular insulin injection, intake of other medicines, meal planning, physical activity and blood sugar monitoring
* Blood pressure should be checked several times a year which should be kept <130/80 mmHg
* Regular intake ACEI or ARB medicine for controlling high blood pressure
* To measure effective eGFR yearly
* To estimate urine albumin atleast once a year to check kidney damage
* To take reduce amount of protein in the died at to seek health from the dietitian regarding meal planning
In conclusion early detection and treatment of kidney diseases are the best way to prevent CKD in order to reduced substantial burden of health budget.
