Improved Cost-effectiveness of Secondary Prevention of Kidney Disease by Targeting Higher Risk Populations

World Kidney Day 2020: Prevention is better than cure, for everyone, everywhere. 

BRUSSELS, March 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- One in three people in the general population (an estimated 850 million people) is at increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). And although an estimated 10% of people worldwide have CKD, estimates suggest 9 in 10 of those are unaware of their condition.

On this year's World Kidney Day (Thursday 12 March), advocates led by the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF) are raising awareness of the importance of the preventive measures and the pressing urgency pertaining to the need for increased education of populations, patients, practitioners and policymakers in effective kidney disease prevention.

Read the full press release text here: https://www.worldkidneyday.org/resource/wkd-press-release-2020/ 

The costs of dialysis and transplantation consume 2%–3% of the annual health care budget in high-income countries, spent on less than 0.03% of the total population of these countries. Costs that are preventable by preventing kidney failure. Moreover, cost-effectiveness can be increased by adopting secondary prevention measures for higher risk populations such as those with diabetes mellitus and hypertension and those with rapid CKD progression. Whilst non-targeted secondary prevention produces cost-effectiveness ratios consistently above $50,000 per life year saved; estimates suggest that this cost can be halved when management of known patients with uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension is improved.

Concretely, this means making populations aware of the risks through global communication campaigns and empowering patients through, for example, online learning platforms. Practitioners would benefit from cross-specialty training to recognize at risk patients and politicians need to prioritize integrated NCD programs and support "best buys". "Best buys" are cost effective interventions such as screening of at-risk populations for CKD, universal access to essential diagnostics of early CKD, availability of affordable basic technologies, and essential medicines and task shifting from doctors to front-line health care workers to more effectively target progression of CKD and other secondary preventative approaches.

Press Contacts:
Anne Hradsky, WKD Campaign Manager, based at the International Society of Nephrology, Brussels, Belgium. T) +32 2 808 04 20 E) anne@worldkidneyday.org