The group consists of the 5 leading UK kidney charities:
British Kidney Patient Association
The National Kidney Federation
What is World Kidney Day all about?
2016 is the 11th World Kidney Day and the the theme this year is kidney disease and children and acting early to prevent it, highlighting the risks from kidney damage and encouraging early detection to prevent the increase of kidney damage.
Kidneys
Kidneys are important because they:
- Prevent the buildup of wastes and extra fluid in the body by making urine.
- Regulate the amount of fluid and various salts in the body, such as sodium, potassium and phosphate, which help to control blood pressure.
- Make red blood cells and hormones that help regulate blood pressure.
- The earlier kidney disease is detected, the better the chance of slowing or stopping its progression. When kidney disease progresses, it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive.
What types of kidney diseases are there?
There are two different types of kidney disease:
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)
AKI is a condition that develops suddenly and is usually as a result of another condition that impacts upon kidney function. It is usually reversible once the underlying cause has been treated.
- Causes of AKI can be:
- burns
- dehydration
- bleeding
- injury or surgery. Trauma can cause very low blood pressure, which in turn can result in insufficient blood supply to the kidneys leading to acute kidney failure.
Chronic Kidney Disease or CKD
CKD is not reversible and does not disappear with treatment and, in fact, tends to worsen over time leading to end-stage kidney disease in a small but significant percentage of people requiring transplant.
In children, the most common causes of CKD are:
- From birth to age 4, birth defects and hereditary diseases are the leading causes of kidney failure.
- Between ages 5 and 14, kidney failure is most commonly caused by hereditary diseases, nephrotic syndrome and systemic diseases.
- Between ages 15 and 19, diseases that affect the glomeruli are the leading cause of kidney failure.
In adults, the two main causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a condition where the amount of glucose in your blood is too high. Poorly controlled blood glucose levels and/or high blood pressure can cause damage to the tiny blood vessels that supply the kidneys. The risk of developing type 2 diabetes can be reduced by making changes to your diet and lifestyle, such as :
- Lose weight. It will drastically reduce your chances of getting type 2 diabetes.
- Increase your exercise levels.
- Stop smoking, as this is proven to increase blood pressure levels, which are known to be a major cause of diabetes.
- Eat healthily to reduce cholesterol levels.
- Reduce alcohol intake. Heavy alcohol intake can lead to conditions such as chronic pancreatitis, which has a side effect of diabetes.
High Blood Pressure
Over time, the extra strain on your heart and blood vessels increases your risk of suffering a cardiac event such as heart attack or stroke as well as heart and chronic kidney disease.
High blood pressure usually has no signs or symptoms, so the only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to have it checked. Contributing factors to the development of high blood pressure are:
- smoking
- being overweight or obese
- lack of physical activity
- too much salt in the diet
- too much alcohol consumption (more than 1 to 2 drinks per day)
- stress
You can help to lower your blood pressure, and your risk of stroke and heart attack, by making changes to your diet and lifestyle.
How can Graysons help?
Chronic kidney disease is common, frequently unrecognised and often exists together with other conditions as set out above.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states: “CKD is usually asymptomatic, but it is detectable, and tests for CKD are simple and freely available. There is evidence that treatment can prevent or delay the progression of CKD, reduce or prevent the development of complications, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, CKD is often unrecognised because there are no specific symptoms, and it is often not diagnosed or diagnosed at an advanced stage.”
Here at Graysons we recognise the devastating, and in some cases fatal, effect that a delayed diagnosis of acute kidney injury/chronic kidney disease can have. We understand the importance of compensation to you as it can greatly improve quality of life for you and your family and provide the care and security that is needed.
If you would like to talk to a member of our specialist medical negligence team then please contact us for a confidential and free discussion today.
Find out more about World Kidney Day
Read more about making a compensation claim for delayed or misdiagnosis of an illness on our web pages.
