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Do you take your kidneys for granted? Of course
you do. I do too. You can’t see them, and you never think about
them. But these two little organs are unbelievably important. And
once they’re damaged, it’s hard to imagine how your life will change
-- and not for the better.
For people with diabetes, the risk for kidney
(renal) problems is even higher. According to the Centers for
Disease Control’s Diabetes Surveillance System, the number of people
who began treatment for kidney failure attributable to diabetes
increased 485 percent, from 7,000 in 1984 to 41,000 in 2001.
Diabetes and End Stage Renal
Disease (ESRD)
Diabetes is a pandemic. Researchers from the World Health
Organization report that in 1995 there were 135 million people with
diabetes; by 2025 at least 300 million will have it. The WHO reports
that diabesity mirrors the growing phenomenon of globesity. With
obesity comes increased risk for many diseases, most of all type 2
diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension and arthritis. And
diabetes and hypertension increase risk for kidney disease.
In 2000, care for patients with kidney failure
cost the United States nearly $20 billion. The U.S. Renal Data
System researchers forecast that by 2010 the cost in just the United
States for ongoing ESRD programs will top $28.3 billion.
Researchers at the Center for Biomedical
Engineering report that as of July, 2001, over 1.1 million patients
worldwide were on dialysis treatment; they anticipate the number
will double by 2010. In the U.S., the total annual cost per patient
is about $66,000. The worldwide cost of treating ESRD will surpass
$1 trillion for the first decade of the 21st century.
Obesity,
diabetes, renal failure.
There is a pattern. According to the American
Diabetes Associations’ statistics from 2001, there are more than
18.2 million Americans with diabetes, but nearly one-third are
unaware that they have the disease. The National Kidney and Urologic
Diseases Information Clearinghouse estimates that each year, nearly
100,000 Americans are newly diagnosed with kidney failure. More than
100,000 currently have ESRD due to diabetes.
According to the U.S. Health and Human Services
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an estimated 650,000
Americans will have kidney failure by 2010 and will require renal
replacement therapy, either ongoing renal dialysis or a kidney
transplant. Without one of these therapies, ESRD is fatal.
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