Averting the Legacy of Kidney Disease – Focus on Childhood
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 CKD in later childhood or in adult life.
Children born early or who are small-for date newborns have relatively increased
risk for the development of CKD 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 CKD in childhood; there is evidence
that children fare better than adults, if they receive kidney replacement therapy
including dialysis and transplantation, while 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.
Nephrol Open J. 2016; 1(3): e13-e20. doi: 10.17140/NPOJ-1-e005
