Prevention of chronic kidney disease through early detection

The current scenario of global burden of diseases comprise of a triple burden of diseases of which non communicable diseases form a huge proportion. Among the non communicable diseases, chronic kidney disease has emerged a major threat in terms of complications, accessibility and availability of treatment, especially in developing countries like India. There are a few studies done on prevalence of kidney disease and our programme targets early detection of kidney disease in the form of screening programmes directed at different segments of the society. The screening programme consists of brief history of medical illness, followed by measurement of body mass index and blood pressure and urine examination to look for proteinuria. Our programme identified prehypertension in 38.7% of the population screened and 24.% were identified with proteinuria. Individuals who were above 45 years of age, and those with proteinuria were found to be significantly associated with abnormal serum creatinine and eGFR. Our screening programme has proven to be efficient in early detection of kidney diseases in the population and has also proven to be cost effective in a country like India where diverse economic conditions exist in the society.