News release
Friday 4th March 2016
Embargoed until 10th March 2016
British children facing kidney disease time bomb
With around a third of 10 year olds living in Britain today, either overweight or obese1, and
predictions that half will be affected by 20202, leading kidney charities are warning of an
increased risk of kidney disease in adulthood. 40,000 to 45,000 of them will die prematurely as a
result of kidney failure3.
On World Kidney Day (10 March 2016), a group of leading UK kidney charities are highlighting the
importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in children to prevent future kidney problems from
the explosion of obesity in childhood.
Dr David Hughes, Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist at Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow
and President of the British Association for Paediatric Nephrology, said: “Childhood obesity
causes long term health problems. Many people know that obesity increases the risks of diabetes,
heart disease and high blood pressure, all of which increase the problems of chronic kidney
disease (CKD). Obesity also has the direct effect of increasing CKD, a fact not well recognised in
the general population.”
He continued, “The current level of childhood obesity paints a frightening picture. It is a stark
warning about the future kidney health of people in the UK.”
Professor John Feehally, leading kidney specialist and one of the founders of World Kidney Day
globally, said “On World Kidney Day we want everyone in the UK to hear and understand that the
future kidney health of our children is in the balance. Kidney disease is a devastating
complication of both diabetes and high blood pressure, and will afflict many of our youngsters in
later life unless we can deal now with the obesity epidemic.”
More than three million people in the UK are at risk from moderate to severe chronic kidney
disease (CKD)4 and over 60,000 of them are living with complete kidney failure5. There are no
cures.
Kidney Charities Together6 say that there continues to be a general lack of awareness amongst
adults of kidney disease. In a recent YouGov survey7, conducted by one of the member charities,
Kidney Research UK, 62% of the 2,306 adults questioned said that they didn’t consider
themselves at risk of kidney disease and yet, worryingly, over one fifth (21%) of this group also
stated that they currently experience high blood pressure, vascular disease and/or diabetes,
which are all serious risk factors for developing CKD.
It is therefore crucial that we encourage and facilitate education, early detection and a healthy life
style, starting in early childhood and continuing through to old age, to combat the increase of
preventable kidney damage.
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REFERENCES
1 Master, W. and Kingdom, U. (2015) Find data. Available at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB13648
2 Wang, Claire Y, McPherson, K, Marsh, ., Gortmaker, S. L., Brown, M., Health and economic burden of the projected
obesity trends in the USA and the UK. The Lancet Volume 378, No. 9793, p815–825 (2011)
3 NHS England, NHS Kidney Care - Chronic Kidney Disease in England: The Human and Financial Cost 2012
4 https://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/healthinformation/kidney-health-check
5 UK Renal Registry, 18th Annual Report
6 Kidney Charities Together – The British Kidney Patient Association, Kidney Research UK, Kids Kidney Research, The
National Kidney Federation, The Polycystic Kidney Disease Charity
7 YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2306 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 6th - 7th January 2016. The
survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).
For further info, please contact: [email protected] or telephone the Press
Office: 01733 367 860 or out of hours: 07733 103 830
We have a number of patients with various forms of kidney disease including children
available for interview as well as kidney specialists available for comment. Please enquire
for details
Notes to Editors:
About World Kidney Day:
World Kidney Day is an annual global awareness and education event, held on the second
Thursday in March and brings together millions of people in over 150 countries, uniting them to
produce a powerful voice for kidney health awareness. The overall aim is to raise awareness of
kidney disease and highlight the urgent need for action to prevent and treat this serious health
condition. Since it began in 2006, the global campaign highlights a particular theme every year,
which for 2016 has a specific focus on Kidney Disease & Children.
UK website - www.worldkidneyday.co.uk
Global website – www.worldkidneyday.org
The campaign in the UK is led by the Kidney Charities Together Group comprising five
leading kidney charities:
The British Kidney Patient Association
Kidney Research UK
Kids Kidney Research
National Kidney Federation
The Polycystic Kidney Disease Charity
www.britishkidney-pa.co.uk
www.kidneyresearchuk.org
www.kidskidneyresearch.org
www.kidney.org.uk
www.pkdcharity.org.uk
The 2016 World Kidney Day campaign in the UK is also supported by unrestricted grants
from Fresenius Medical Care, Pharmacosmos UK and Westfield Health.
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Kidney Facts:
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Our kidneys filter around 180 litres of blood every day
Kidney disease is common, can affect anyone, and there is no cure
Children are also affected by kidney disease but they are more likely to experience
the consequences of birth defects and inherited genetic kidney conditions
Kidney failure is fatal without dialysis or a transplant
Every year an estimated 60,000 people in the UK are being treated for kidney failure
3,000 kidney transplants take place in the UK every year but over 5,500 people are
still waiting
There are 40,000-45,000 premature deaths in the UK every year due to chronic
kidney disease (CKD)
Nearly 1000 children in the UK have kidneys that have completely failed and need
lifelong treatment
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a sudden drop in kidney function, often as a
complication of another serious illness
AKI affects 1 in 5 people admitted to hospital and may be more deadly than a heart
attack
High blood pressure accelerates kidney damage
Diabetes is the biggest cause of kidney failure
Smoking slows blood flow to the kidneys and stops them working properly
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All about your kidneys
World
Kidney
Day
World
Kidney
Day is
a joint
is a joint initiative of:
Your kidneys are one of
the most important organs in your
body. They act like policemen for your
body, deciding what can stay and what must
leave; they get rid of the rubbish that builds
up in your body like dustmen; and they are
bossy, telling your body to do important
jobs by making hormones (special
chemical messengers).
How to keep your kidneys healthy
• Drink lots of water every day
•D
on’t eat food with too much salt
• Eat lots of fruit and vegetables
•P
lay sport to help keep your
blood pressure low
• Don’t smoke
Pictures by children at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Renal Unit
World Kidney Day in the UK is led by
the Kidney Charities Together Group
Contact us
©World Kidney Day 2006-2016
Childrens WKD A4 Poster.indd 1
[email protected] • www.worldkidneyday.co.uk
@kidneydayUK and use #worldkidneyday
www.facebook.com/worldkidneydayuk
Supported by unrestricted grants from Fresenius Medical Care, Pharmacosmos UK and Westfield Health
19/02/2016 17:03
initiative