Epidemiology is the branch of medicine that deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health. In this week's blog post, I am going to dive into some of the epidemiology of Chronic Kidney Disease so that we can begin to understand the disease on a larger scale.
Atkins, Robert. "The Epidemiology of Chronic Kidney Disease." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group. Web. 18 Sept. 2015. <http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v67/n94s/full/4496031a.html>.
It is important when looking at this branch of medicine to consider the different diseases that are correlated with CKD. In his article discussing the epidemiology of CKD, Robert Atkins stated that "in this century, noncommunicable, noninfectious diseases have become the major cause of mortality and morbidity around the world. This change is reflected in the type of diseases causing chronic kidney failure and in their presentation and progression." There are many causes and different diseases that bridge to Chronic Kidney Disease, but the most major of those is Diabetes. The global pandemic of Type 2 Diabetes is progressing rapidly and is leading to a corresponding increase in the number of patients who are diagnosed with CKD.
According to the CDC, 1 in every 10 adults have Chronic Kidney Disease, over 20 million people in the U.S. Because the only way to find out if you have CKD is to take specific blood and urine tests, most adults are not aware of their disease and do not seek the appropriate treatment. This allows the disease to progress into later stages and eventually will begin to fatally affect the heart or result in total renal failure. Because it is closely associated with risk factors like diabetes and hypertension, the disease is distributed across the U.S. in areas where those factors are more prevalent.
According to the CDC, 1 in every 10 adults have Chronic Kidney Disease, over 20 million people in the U.S. Because the only way to find out if you have CKD is to take specific blood and urine tests, most adults are not aware of their disease and do not seek the appropriate treatment. This allows the disease to progress into later stages and eventually will begin to fatally affect the heart or result in total renal failure. Because it is closely associated with risk factors like diabetes and hypertension, the disease is distributed across the U.S. in areas where those factors are more prevalent.
Atkins, Robert. "The Epidemiology of Chronic Kidney Disease." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group. Web. 18 Sept. 2015. <http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v67/n94s/full/4496031a.html>.
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