Every year, a scientific editorial is written for the occasion of World Kidney Day.
The papers are researches on scientifically relevant topics that links to the campaign as a scientific basis for the annual theme.
Each editorial is written by nephrologists working for the campaign on a voluntary basis and is usually published in more than 50 scientific journals.
Here you can find the complete list of the WKD scientific editorial from 2006 to 2020 and the downloadable PDFs.
2020 – Kidney health for everyone everywhere—from prevention to detection and equitable access to care
Philip Kam-Tao Li, Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh
The global burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is rapidly increasing with a projection of becoming the 5th most common cause of years of life lost globally by 2040. Aggravatingly, CKD is a major cause of catastrophic health expenditure. The costs of dialysis and transplantation consume up to 3% of the annual healthcare budget in high-income countries. Crucially, however, the onset and progression of CKD is often preventable. In 2020, the World Kidney Day campaign highlights the importance of preventive interventions – be it primary, secondary or tertiary. This complementing article focuses on outlining and analyzing measures that can be implemented in every country to promote and advance CKD prevention. Primary prevention of kidney disease should focus on the modification of risk factors and addressing structural abnormalities of the kidney and urinary tracts, as well as exposure to environmental risk factors and nephrotoxins. In persons with pre-existing kidney disease, secondary prevention, including blood pressure optimization and glycemic control, should be the main goal of education and clinical interventions. In patients with advanced CKD, management of co-morbidities such as uremia and cardiovascular disease is a highly recommended preventative intervention to avoid or delay dialysis or kidney transplantation. Political efforts are needed to proliferate the preventive approach. While national policies and strategies for non-communicable diseases might be present in a country, specific policies directed toward education and awareness about CKD screening, management and treatment are often lacking. Hence, there is an urgent need to increase the awareness of the importance of preventive measures throughout populations, professionals and policy makers.
2019 – Burden, Access and Disparities in Kidney Disease.
Deidra C. Crews, Aminu K. Bello, and Gamal Saadi
Kidney disease is a global public health problem, affecting over 750 million persons worldwide. The burden of kidney disease varies substantially across the world, as does its detection and treatment. In many settings, rates of kidney disease and the provision of its care are defined by socio-economic, cultural, and political factors leading to significant disparities. World Kidney Day 2019 offers an opportunity to raise awareness of kidney disease and highlight disparities in its burden and current state of global capacity for prevention and management. Here, we highlight that many countries still lack access to basic diagnostics, a trained nephrology workforce, universal access to primary health care, and renal replacement therapies. We point to the need for strengthening basic infrastructure for kidney care services for early detection and management of acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease across all countries and advocate for more pragmatic approaches to providing renal replacement therapies. Achieving universal health coverage worldwide by 2030 is one of the World Health Organization’s Sustainable Development Goals. While universal health coverage may not include all elements of kidney care in all countries, understanding what is feasible and important for a country or region with a focus on reducing the burden and consequences of kidney disease would be an important step towards achieving kidney health equity.
2018 – What we do and do not know about women and kidney diseases; Questions unanswered and answers unquestioned: Reflection on World Kidney Day and International Women’s Day.
Giorgina B Piccoli, Mona Alrukhaimi, Zhi-Hong Liu, Elena Zakharova, and Adeera Levin
Chronic Kidney Disease affects approximately 10% of the world’s adult population: it is within the top 20 causes of death worldwide, and its impact on patients and their families can be devastating. World Kidney Day and International Women’s Day in 2018 coincide, thus offering an opportunity to reflect on the importance of women’s health and specifically their kidney health, on the community, and the next generations, as well as to strive to be more curious about the unique aspects of kidney disease in women so that we may apply those learnings more broadly.
Girls and women, who make up approximately 50% of the world’s population, are important contributors to society and their families. Gender differences continue to exist around the world in access to education, medical care, and participation in clinical studies. Pregnancy is a unique state for women, offering an opportunity for diagnosis of kidney disease, but also a state where acute and chronic kidney diseases may manifest, and which may impact future generations with respect to kidney health. There are various autoimmune and other conditions that are more likely to impact women with profound consequences for child bearing, and on the fetus. Women have different complications on dialysis than men, and are more likely to be donors than recipients of kidney transplants.
In this editorial, we focus on what we do and do not know about women, kidney health, and kidney disease, and what we might learn in the future to improve outcomes worldwide.
2017 – Obesity and kidney disease: hidden consequences of the epidemic
Csaba P. Kovesdy, Susan Furth and Carmine Zoccali
Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic, and its prevalence has been projected to grow by 40% in the next decade. This increasing prevalence has implications for the risks of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and also for Chronic Kidney Disease. A high body mass index is one of the strongest risk factors for new-onset Chronic Kidney Disease. In individuals affected by obesity, a series of complex pathophysiologic changes occur that lead to the development of Chronic Kidney Disease. These include on the one hand effects mediated by the downstream consequences of obesity (such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension), but also direct effects of adipose tissue, via humoral factors such as leptin, adiponectin, resistin and visfatin). In obese individuals a compensatory hyperfiltration occurs to meet the heightened metabolic demands of the increased body weight, leading to glomerulomegaly and accompanied by deposition of adipose tissue in the glomerulus and the gradual development of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. The incidence of obesity-related glomerulopathy has increased ten-fold in recent years. In addition to the development of Chronic Kidney Disease, obesity has also been shown to be a risk factor for nephrolithiasis, and for a number of malignancies including kidney cancer. Interventions to stem the tide of obesity are thus extremely important for preventing the development and progression of Chronic Kidney Disease and other disorders of the kidneys. This year the World Kidney Day promotes education on the harmful consequences of obesity and its association with kidney disease, advocating healthy lifestyle and health policy measures that makes preventive behaviors an affordable option.
2016 – Averting the legacy of kidney disease – focus on childhood
Julie R. Ingelfinger, Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh and Franz Schaefer
World Kidney Day 2016 focuses on kidney disease in childhood and the antecedents of adult kidney disease that can begin in earliest childhood. Chronic kidney disease in childhood differs from that in adults, as the largest diagnostic group among children includes congenital anomalies and inherited disorders, with glomerulopathies and kidney disease in the setting of diabetes being relatively uncommon. In addition, many children with acute kidney injury will ultimately develop sequelae that may lead to hypertension and chronic kidney disease in later childhood or in adult life. Children born early or who are small-for-date newborns have a relatively increased risk for the development of chronic kidney disease later in life. Persons with a high-risk birth and early childhood history should be watched closely in order to help detect early signs of kidney disease in time to provide effective prevention or treatment. Successful therapy is feasible for advanced chronic kidney disease in childhood; there is evidence that children fare better than adults if they receive kidney replacement therapy including dialysis and transplant, whereas only a minority of children may require this ultimate intervention. Because there are disparities in access to care, effort is needed so that those children with kidney disease, wherever they live, may be treated effectively, irrespective of their geographic or economic circumstances. Our hope is that World Kidney Day will inform the general public, policy makers, and caregivers about the needs and possibilities surrounding kidney disease in childhood.
2015 – CKD in disadvantaged populations
2006 – World Kidney Day: An idea whose time has come
Allan J Collins MD, Committee Chair, IFKF, William G Couser MD President, ISN, John H Dirks MD ISN, Joel D Kopple MD IFKF, Thomas Reiser Executive Director, ISN, Miguel C Riella MD ISN, Sheila Robinson BA ISN, Sudhir V Shah MD President, IFKF and Anne Wilson IFKFThe world needs a kidney day to draw global attention to the increasing global pandemic of kidney and associated cardiovascular disease. Therefore, the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF) jointly are proposing that a World Kidney Day be established on the second Thursday in March each year. It will be launched on Thursday, March 9, 2006, and fully inaugurated on Thursday, March 8, 2007. The aim is to broadcast the message about kidney disease to government health officials, general physicians, allied health professionals, individuals, and families.
