In the world, chronic kidney disease affects about one in 10 adults. Today 4.5 million Italians are in medium or advanced states of the disease, and the numbers are constantly increasing due to the aging of the population and climate change, which heat waves more frequent and damage the kidneys. Although it is therefore a more than concrete danger (it is expected that it will soon become the fifth cause of death in the world), Italians still seem to know little about chronic kidney disease: 7 out of 10, for example, have never undergone a control of kidneys, and 1 in 2 cannot say who the reference specialist is. This is what emerges from the “Bridge the knowledge gap” survey, conducted by AstraRicerche for the Italian Society of Nephrology and presented during a webinar in anticipation of the World Kidney Day which is celebrated around the world on 10 March.
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Research
Carried out on a representative sample of the adult Italian population, the research highlights the existence of an important information gap on issues relating to kidney health, especially among the youngest. Only one in 7 people, for example, believe they know what chronic kidney disease is, and just under half of the population (48.8%) admits that they have only heard of it, but do not know what it is (38.2%). he has never really heard of it).
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About one in two people also think that kidney malfunctions always give symptoms that are easy to recognize (48.2%). An erroneous idea, more frequent among 18-24 year olds (58%) and much less among 45-54 year olds (42%), which demonstrates the need for more information on the subject in our country: precisely theno symptoms that are easy to recognize in fact, in the initial stages of kidney disease, it is one of the factors that still today contrast the prevention and early diagnosis of this pathology, fundamental to avoiding the risk of transplantation or dialysis for patients.
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Diagnostic delays
“This data – he explained Piergiorgio Messa, President of SIN, former Director of the Complex Operational Unit of Nephrology, Dialysis and Renal Transplantation of the Polyclinic of Milan and Full Professor of Nephrology at the University of Milan – is in line with that of the diagnostic delay recorded for chronic kidney disease , so it is clear that we are concerned about the health of the kidneys not with a view to prevention or early intervention, but when the disease is now at an advanced stage that requires dialysis or transplantation. Kidney diseases rarely give clear and recognizable signals, and for this reason they are often discovered by chance, at an advanced stage, during tests carried out for other reasons “.
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It is also for this reason that on the occasion of World Kidney Day on 10 March the Italian Society of Nephrology and the Italian Kidney Foundation have decided to organize a rich program of information initiatives on chronic kidney disease.
The initiatives of the World Day
It begins with two free pilot screening programs, aimed at the general population and – in collaboration with Caritas – at disadvantaged people. The two initiatives, promoted by the Uoc of Nephrology of the Policlinico Umberto I University Company, provide for the measurement of blood pressure and a urine test, at two locations in Rome: the Caritas Clinic (via Marsala, 103), open from 8:00 am at 14:00 for citizens with limited access to coded diagnostic-therapeutic paths, and the Italian Fitness gym, Kolbe Park (Via Tiburtina 949) where a screening will be active from 8:00 to 20:00 especially for sportsmen, and therefore to people apparently in good health.
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Contacts on Facebook
For those who do not reside in Rome, it will instead be possible to speak directly with the Presidents of the Italian Society of Nephrology and the Italian Kidney Foundation via Facebook. The initiative – renamed “The expert answers”, is scheduled between 18:00 and 19:00 on 10 March, and will allow for answers to doubts and questions by connecting to the @PianetaSalute Facebook page. Similar is also the project “A nephrologist at your disposal”, which offers the possibility of asking specific questions to kidney specialists by sending an email to [email protected]
Finally, in many cities, some significant monuments will be illuminated with the projection of the World Kidney Day logo, to raise awareness on the importance of knowledge of kidney diseases, and on prevention.
Kidney health and Covid
Furthermore, this year there is certainly the link between Covid and kidney health. The latest scientific evidence indicates that the virus can affect the kidneys even in otherwise healthy people, so much so that one in 4 deaths from Covid 19 has acute kidney damage. With consequences that also continue in the convalescence phase: those suffering from Long Covid, in fact, have a high risk of developing kidney problems, and in the recovered there is an increased risk of suffering from chronic renal failure. For this reason, the impact of the pandemic on nephrology will be one of the central themes of the ninth edition of Nefrofocus, a conference to be held in Rome on 25 and 26 March, close to World Kidney Day.
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