World Kidney Day: Nephrologist cautions against diabetes, hypertension

Oladipupo, the Medical Director at Doren Specialist Hospital, said that globally, diabetes, accounts for about 40 percent of kidney disease cases, while hypertension accounts for about 33 percent.

Making the call ahead of this year’s World Kidney Day on March 14, Oladipupo, who diagnoses, treats, and manages acute and chronic kidney problems and diseases, warned that tiredness and general malaise are some of the ways that undiagnosed kidney problems could present to individuals.

“We have so many other causes which then vary, according to the geopolitical or according to the environment or environmental factors. In this environment, the 3rd most common cause is usually due to obstructive causes.

“The vast majority of kidney sufferers reside in the community. You find out that even from stage 1-4 and a large part of stage 5, still reside in the community.

“This is one of the reasons why the World Kidney Day was set aside and create awareness and help individuals to prevent this kind of ailment earlier and we know that if we can identify individuals with chronic kidney disease earlier, we would be able to do a lot more than we are doing currently.”

He warned that Chronic Kidney Disease patients do not usually show specific symptoms. Still, over time, they display non-specific symptoms such as getting tired easily, having difficulty controlling blood pressure and their urine becoming more frothy, among other symptoms.

“When you see individuals always going to the hospital, and are always complaining of feeling unwell, feeling tired, having malaise, getting tired easily, such individuals might be suffering from kidney disease and we just need to check.”

“It is a silent killer, but most patients do not have direct manifestation or any directly significant or specific symptom initially. But what happens over time is that they have non-specific symptoms. They get tired easily because it is likely that their blood level is low, and such individuals can end up having difficulty controlling their blood pressure.

“They start to notice that their urine becomes more frothy as if they put detergent in water. These are ways in which individuals with kidney disease can manifest.”

“I had the opportunity to carry out a prevalence study in Lagos state in 2015, and the study data showed that about 11.7 percent of adults residing in Lagos state were suffering from chronic kidney disease at that time. Almost 98 percent of them were unaware that they were suffering this ailment at that time.”

The theme for World Kidney Day 2024 is “Kidney Health for All – Advancing Equitable Access to Care and Optimal Medication Practice”, which highlights the importance of access to quality kidney care, including early detection, prevention, and treatment options as well as the need for proper medication use and management.