Stats show that 1 out of 10 adults worldwide has it, and if left untreated it can be deadly. While early detection allows for disease care and management to help prevent morbidity and mortality, and improve cost-effectiveness and sustainability, kidney disease-related mortality continues to increase yearly and is projected to be the 5th leading cause of death by 2040. A persistent and ongoing CKD knowledge gap exists, one that is demonstrable at all levels of healthcare.

How can you detect one with CKD? The following though not exhaustive can be used to ascertain one who might likely have such;

• hypertension
• anemia
• edema, or swollen feet, hands, and ankles
• fatigue, or tiredness
• decreased urine output
• bloody urine, in some cases
• dark urine, in some cases
• decreased mental alertness, when the condition is severe
• a loss of appetite
• persistent itchy skin, when the condition is severe
• more frequent urination, especially at night, in some cases

The glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which measures how successfully a person’s kidney filters waste, may be used to determine stages 1 to 5, with 5 indicating a failed or near-failed kidney.

Is all hope lost if one has chronic kidney disease? Not at all.  A person may take certain medications to treat the symptoms and conditions and in addition, can try one of the following lifestyles;

Following a proper diet: Restriction of the amount of protein in the diet with the help of a doctor in determining the best sources of protein.

Avoid Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: Drugs such as ibuprofen and certain antibiotics may metabolize differently in individuals with related concerns.

End-stage treatment: Typically aimed at stage 5, a kidney transplant or dialysis will be needed for a patient to survive.

Some causes of CKD include;

Obstructed Urine flow, Kidney diseases, Malaria and yellow fever, Certain medications, Illegal substance use among others.

Prevention depends largely on managing the primary causes, which are diabetes and hypertension. However, there are other conditions — including kidney injury and heavy metal poisoning — that can cause CKD.

People who are at risk of the condition or who are concerned should speak with a doctor about testing. Leading a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise can also help prevent CKD.

As we talk about kidney health for all, Xcene Research urges all to take care of their pair. We will continue to extend kidney disease awareness to patient education, encourage the general public to adopt healthy lifestyles, and encourage the adoption of policies that tackle the disease and ensure living well with kidney disease.

So many people are tired of hearing about Covid-19 and vaccines. From an obvious angle, most people don’t want to take it because of the negative side effects (i.e. they are scared). Nevertheless, there is good news as the mRNA vaccines work wonders. What is the mRNA vaccine all about? It is a type of technology that has been in development for decades. Unlike a normal vaccine, RNA vaccines work by introducing an mRNA sequence (the molecule which tells cells what to build) which is coded for a disease-specific antigen. Once produced within the body, the antigen is recognized by the immune system, preparing it to fight the real thing.

In a layman’s term! RNA (mRNA) vaccines teach our cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response. They are safe and effective at preventing COVID-19. Now how do they work? mRNA vaccines work by introducing a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a viral protein. It is usually a small piece of a protein found on the virus’s outer membrane. 

Gene Therapy:

Next is gene therapy for sickle cell disease. It was discovered that a single dose restored blood cells to their normal shape and eliminated the most serious complication of the disease. This usually lasted for at least three years in some patients. The single-dose therapy, tested on 35 adults and adolescents with sickle cell disease, essentially corrected the shape of the patient’s red blood cells. It also eliminated episodes of severe pain, caused when rigid, crescent-shaped red blood cells clump together and block blood vessels. The painful episodes often result in widespread organ damage. Such episodes are a frequent cause of emergency department visits, hospitalizations and lead to early death. Since 2012, researchers have been tweaking CRISPR, the gene-editing tool that easily edits the human genome, to treat diseases caused by DNA mutations.

But until this year, the method, which involves injecting a patient with tweaked stem cells, had only been used to treat conditions whose mutations are in the bloodstream, such as sickle-cell anemia. In August of 2021, researchers published the results of a six-person clinical trial in which doctors attempted to fix a genetic defect that causes a rare liver condition called transthyretin amyloidosis. Packaged inside a tiny blob called a lipid nanoparticle, the gene-editing tech made its way to the liver, where it went to work correcting defective cells. There’s still a long way to go before this treatment, which is still in the first phase of clinical trials, finds its way to the market. But, if successful, it could pave the way for healing a wide variety of genetic conditions.

Telemedicine:

Telemedicine prevailed in the era of the COVID-19 outbreak in the year 2020 and 2021 respectively, and ever since then, Telemedicine has become the new normal. Through the wings of social media, this innovation has thrived and is still thriving. Telemedicine is an innovative way of getting access and delivering health […]

There are many examples of patients and providers realizing the benefit of telehealth in their lives for convenience, efficiency, and even relationship building by enabling a more personal touch in traditionally professional interactions.

For providers specifically, telehealth has provided a range of benefits. The technology allows for remote monitoring, especially of chronic diseases or infections that need frequent check-ups and follow-up visits to keep an eye on the status of disease progression. Virtual visits simplify the disease monitoring process, allowing for physicians to keep a closer eye on the patient with the flexibility of booking frequent appointments, while not constrained by needing to be in-person.

There is also a convenience factor offered by telehealth that, unlike some other industries, physicians have not previously been able to enjoy, namely being able to work from home using a secure platform to conduct online visits.

Telehealth has allowed for further engagement of patients as well as building more personal relationships with patients since interactions tend to be less formal in an at-home setting. This also helps with providing optimal care, allowing doctors, especially in family medicine, to see patients in their home environment and pick up on clues that help with diagnosis and treatment, which may have otherwise gone unmentioned or undiscovered.

From the patient perspective, telehealth adoption was also initially slow before the pandemic however with the recent, rapid and widespread telehealth adoption, patients have also realized its convenience: being able to schedule quick check-ups with physicians in between meetings allows the patient to avoid taking the day off from work, commuting to the doctor’s office, for example – all of which take more time and energy than the actual appointment in most cases. In fact, this may encourage patients who have cut annual physicals out of their health routine, for example, to begin scheduling them again, improving the system of preventative care and the patients’ relationship with healthcare.

This brief exploration of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the adoption of telehealth is indicative of the larger transformation in healthcare delivery happening now. The healthcare system is moving from a long-standing brick-and-mortar model to one with a large dependence on virtual care, deepening focus on patient-centricity and engagement while using advanced technology to efficiently manage large amounts of high-quality data for optimized patient outcomes. While the past few months have exposed many cracks […]