Kidney failure cases increasing rapidly in PH due to unhealthy lifestyle
MANILA- The number of Filipinos suffering from kidney failure is rising annually by an alarming rate of 10 to 15 percent due to their unhealthy lifestyle, the Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday.
Dr. Antonio Paraiso, DOH program manager for Philippine Network for Organ Sharing, said that there were close to 23,000 patients undergoing dialysis treatment in 2013 due to kidney failure or end- stage renal disease (ESRD), which requires kidney transplantation.
According to him, back in the year of 2004, the number of ESRD patients was only around 4,000.
“From 4,000 to almost 23,000, that’s really a big number. You have about 10 to 15 percent increase in cases every year,” he said in a briefing.
The rise in cases was primarily caused by diabetes, and then by hypertension and glomerulonephritis, a condition wherein the part of the kidneys that filters waste and fluid from the blood is damaged, Dr. Paraiso said.
“Both hypertension and diabetes are lifestyle diseases. There are more and more patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension and they are assumed one and two positions for kidney failure,” he said.
Paraiso called on the public to observe healthy lifestyle to prevent kidney failure, saying that it is also important for a person to have their urinalysis examined at least once a year by ” a competent doctor.”
Source: Xinhua
Published: 22 Feb 2014