One in seven adults in Spain suffers from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), a pathology with an increasing prevalence, which is associated with high cardiovascular morbidity and premature mortality, already one of the main problems of public health today. After all, a large part of the patients is undeserved.
These are the main conclusions of the political health debate “The silence you have to listen to.” Hearing the silence, diagnosing CKD”, is promoted by the ALCER patient association, the Spanish Society of Nephrology (Sen) and AstraZeneca, in collaboration with ALCER Giralda and the Andalusian Society of Nephrology (SAN).
In this forum, multidisciplinary experts and institutional managers discussed the challenges posed by the approach to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), seeking to promote new developments in early detection and thus increase the survival of those affected.
Helium’s chronic disease affects 37% of the Spanish population over 64 years
In that speech, Dr. Maria Sagrario Soriano, member of the board of directors of the Spanish Society of Nephrology (Sen.), confirmed that “CKD constitutes one of the most serious public health problems in Spain, which currently affects 15% of the adult population and 37% of the population of Spain over 64 years of age and, for all at its level, 5.6% of the health expenditure in Spanish care “.
For this reason, in the opinion of this expert, it is necessary to redesign the first approaches to CKD, to implement early detection programs of the disease. Among the identified obstacles that we found are the lack of knowledge of CKD on the part of the general population, the profile of elderly patients with little training in self-care, the absence of a uniform national policy and additional difficulties in promoting innovative approaches. disease . In the coming years, health plans must be established to support the treatment of kidney patients affected by the growing population.
The number of patients with Chronic Kidney Disease is increasing due to aging
Chronic Kidney Disease is known as the silent disease because it does not produce symptoms until it is in advanced stages. Comorbidities are common in CKD patients and “the number of patients is expected to increase mainly because of the aging population, as well as the increased prevalence of hypertension and diabetes, the main risk factors.” In fact, “in Spain, CKD is the second disease whose mortality and disability have increased the most between 2006 and 2016, after Alzheimer’s,” warned Dr. Suriano
And the fact is, according to the most recent report of the World Health Organization, of the 55.4 million deaths that occurred in the world in 2019, more than half (55%) are due to 10 pathologies, among which kidney disease is the first. . CKD is expected to be among the top five causes of death in the world by 2040.
Unmet qaod CKD patients
On the part of Daniel Gallego, President of the ALCER National Federation, in this meeting he highlighted the difficulties of CKD patients’ disadvantages, to the extent that “the great impact of kidney disease on a person means that they are still useless, such as psychosocial aspects, mental health. sexuality, insomnia, work and family reconciliation, and finally the quality healthy life.
In this context, and with the intention of increasing the figure of this disease, the ALCER president showed that “it is necessary to include kidney disease as a priority in health plans and public policies. We need registers and quality measures to address kidney diseases, to know the real picture and the real numbers of CKD; Now , we only have estimates for early kidney disease.
For that part, Celia Fernández, deputy director of Health at the hospital, linked to the General Directorate of Health and Health Outcomes of Andalusian Health, confirmed that “CKD is a major public health problem worldwide. We are also concerned about the nobility in the Baetica (1,293/million inhabitants). Tool the best common work for all areas of care, to lead us to the process of the Integrated Process for the Evaluation of Chronic Kidney Diseases, in which the role of Primary Care is essential, not only in the initial diagnosis, but in the control of the progression of CKD, which is also close to the prevention and control of other diseases it is long”.
Finally, Marta Moreno, Director of Corporate Affairs and Market Access in AstraZeneca underlined the impact of this pathology, “which represents a heavy financial burden on the National Health System, but above all and what is the most important, it affects the quality of life of the patients. For this reason, contribute to promoting awareness of the pathology We want to promote initiatives that improve the early diagnosis of CKD and cover the needs of patients, while we continue to find better therapeutic solutions.”
