‘Chronic kidney disease may be 5th leading cause of death in India soon’

Today is World Kidney Day. It’s a day to raise awareness on the importance of kidney disease, which is becoming a serious health concern. A study by Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) reveals that chronic kidney disease (CKD) will soon be the fifth leading cause of death in India. At present, it is 16th on the list.

Telangana gets 3,000 new cases of CKD, under Aarogyasri, each year. This number is expected to go up to 10,000 by 2040, as per projections.

Apart from this, across the state one lakh people are expected to develop kidney diseases in various stages by 2040. What’s even scarier is that projections derived from various studies done over the past 10 years at the Department of Nephrology at NIMS state that such a jump in cases will be seen across the country.

Dr Taduri Gangadhar, head of department, nephrology, said that 6,956 patients with CKD were studied in the state in the last 10 years. “While there were patients from all parts of the state, studies were carried out in Adilabad, Nellore, Srikakulam and Prakasam. The districts were chosen based on reports from patients coming from the region and data from hospitals. Among the various reasons found for increase in CKD, diabetes and hypertension were significant ones. Apart from that heat stress, high level of silica in ground water and use of pain killers were the other reasons,” said Gangadhar, adding that a similar situation existed in other parts of the country too.

Currently, in Telangana 10,000 patients of end-stage kidney diseases are provided dialysis under the Aarogyasri scheme by the state government. Patients seeking dialysis in individual capacity is estimated to be over 20,000.

The increase in contributing factors such as diabetes and hypertension too is worrisome. As per the latest district level health survey, 7-10% of the state’s population was found to have diabetes, while 20% had hypertension.