A study warned that chronic kidney disease has become a global health crisis, as it has become the ninth leading cause of death in the world.
A research team from the University of Washington in the United States, the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and the Langone Medical Research Center in New York, United States, stated that the number of people suffering from kidney failure has more than doubled since 1999, rising from 378 million people at that time to about 788 million people at the present time.
It follows from these data that 1 in 7 adults in the world suffer from chronic kidney problems.
The researchers relied on data from the International Burden of Disease Study, which monitors health trends in 204 countries. The study focused on adults aged 20 years or older during the period from 1990 to 2023.
During the study published by the scientific journal “Lancet”, it was found that in the year 2023 alone, 1.5 million deaths related to kidney disease occurred, an increase of 6% over the past thirty years.
In statements to the website “Health Day”, which specializes in medical research, Dr. Joseph Koresh from the Langone Medical Research Center said, “This study reveals that kidney disease has become common and fatal and that it is worsening until it has turned into a public health problem.”
Insufficient kidney function affects the body’s ability to get rid of toxic waste, and this health problem remains without obvious health symptoms until it reaches the late stages, and then the patient is forced to undergo dialysis or a kidney transplant.