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Doha, Qatar: Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has urged people to learn more about kidney diseases, their causes, symptoms, and the treatment options to reduce the burden of the condition.
According to senior consultant nephrology and kidney transplantation at Hamad General Hospital, Dr. Mohamad Alkadi, there are several causes of kidney diseases, but the most important ones are diabetes and hypertension as 70% of kidney disease cases are caused by these conditions.
“There are also other causes such as immune disorders, genetic factors, heart muscle failure, excessive use of painkillers, and recurrent urinary tract infections,” he said in an awareness message.
The kidneys perform many crucial functions, including, cleaning and filtering waste products out of blood to produce urine, filtering extra water out of blood, balancing salts and chemicals that are necessary for the body to function.
Signs and symptoms of kidney disease can include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue, weakness, sleep problems, muscle twitches and cramps, swelling of feet and ankles, and high blood pressure.
Globally, chronic kidney disease causes at least 2.4 million deaths each year and is the sixth fastest growing cause of death. Kidney disease can affect people of any age, gender and race and it is estimated that one in 10 people in Qatar have some kind of kidney impairment.
HMC provides advanced medical care for kidney patients.
“Treatment depends on the function level of the kidneys. In early stages of diseases treatment is primarily prevention by using medication to control blood pressure and diabetes or immunosuppressant drugs if there are immune disorders,” said Dr. Alkadi.
“For advance stages of the disease options may include kidney transplant or various forms of kidney dialysis such as device-driven peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis,” he said.
Research shows that in Qatar the number of patients requiring dialysis might go up at an average of 5.67% between 2022 and 2030.
“The number of dialysis patients in Qatar is anticipated to increase from 1,037 in 2022, to 1,245 in 2025 and to 1,611 in 2030,” noted the study ‘Time-Series Forecasting of Haemodialysis Population in the State of Qatar by 2030’ published in Qatar Medical Journal and featured on Qscience.com.
The researchers of the study are physicians from HMC Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology and the Department of Quality and Patient Safety, including Dr. Alkadi.
“The most important method of prevention is early detection through regular disease screening,” said Dr. Alkadi.
He also recommends to maintain a healthy lifestyle, to keep blood sugar and pressure levels in control, ensure appropriate fluid intake, quite smoking, and prevent taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory/pain-killer pills regularly.
