Enabling Healthy Decisions

I was reading a document from the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) the other day.  Some of the facts jumped out at me.  I thought I’d share them.

• 83,000 people are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant
• 1 person dies every 2 hours while waiting for a kidney transplant
• 26M Americans (1 in 9 adults) have chronic kidney disease (CKD) and most don’t know it
• 367,000 people depend on dialysis for survival

It also reinforced some things that many people may know:

• Once kidneys fail, patients need a transplant of dialysis to survive
• People with diabetes, high blood pressure, or a family history of these conditions are at risk for CKD
• African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, and the elderly are at increased risk

You can also find more information about CKD from the CDC.

There was an article this week in the NY Times about this silent killer.  Here’s a paragraph from there.

Only 1 percent of participants with no lifestyle-related risk factors developed protein in their urine, an early indicator of kidney damage, while 13 percent of those with three unhealthy factors developed the condition, known medically as proteinuria. Obesity alone doubled a person’s risk of developing kidney disease; an unhealthy diet raised the risk even when weight and other lifestyle factors were taken into account.