Galenos: “The best way to suffer from chronic kidney disease is not to be diabetic, not to be obese and to exercise”
By:
EFE
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10% of the population over 20 years of age in Latin America has a certain degree of chronic kidney disease and at least 8 out of 10 do not know that they suffer from it, which can lead to complications, experts stressed this Monday, also warning of the link between this ailment with diabetes.
“In Latin America, one in two patients with type 2 diabetes has a complication of chronic kidney disease,” said the internist Héctor Sánchez Mijangos on August 17.
The expert expressed special concern since in the world diabetes is a problem that has grown exponentially in recent years and it is expected that by 2040 there will be 642 million people with diabetes in the world, of which 1 in 3 will develop chronic kidney disease .
Chronic kidney disease is the slow loss of function of the kidneys. The problem, for the most part, is a consequence of chronic non-communicable diseases such as being overweight, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and dyslipidemias (high amounts of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood).
Ricardo Correa, internist and nephrologist, pointed out that Chronic kidney disease has grown in the last 20 years in the world and today it is the seventeenth cause of death worldwide, while in Latin America it is among the first five causes of death.
“The best way to suffer from chronic kidney disease is not to be diabetic, not to be obese and to exercise”, said the expert, but also, in case of suffering it, the most appropriate thing is that it be treated in early stages and thus avoid its progression or delay it.
Lower the risk of dialysis
According to Correa, who also serves as the head of the Nephrology department of the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition, in Mexico currently 44% of patients with diabetes have developed chronic kidney disease.
Many of them, he stressed, require dialysis to treat this condition.
He explained that genetically, the Latino population and especially Mexicans have “a high genetic predisposition to diabetes”, which adds to the problems of overweight and obesity caused by poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
“When we combine these factors, we are in front of a real time bomb that damages health spending at the national level,” he said.
He added that, in 2018 alone, the economic burden of diabetes in Mexico was more than 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), but indicated that early detection and treatment can make a difference.
New treatment options
Héctor Sánchez Mijangos, who is the former medical president of the Mexican Diabetes Federation, stressed that with a high prevalence of chronic kidney disease, it was urgent to find effective treatment options to avoid reaching this point.
Currently, he said, there are drugs that help reduce the risk of end-stage chronic kidney disease, or worsening kidney function, in patients with type 2 diabetes.
However, both experts stressed that patients should try to lead healthy lifestyles and strictly control diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, which can lead to kidney damage.
The fundamental thing, they assured, is to prevent patients from needing dialysis or premature death, since it is estimated that currently, in Mexico alone, 12 million people suffer from this type of disease.
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