NKTI calls people to take care of their kidneys By Marie Joy Simpao TARLAC CITY, July 2 (PIA) -- Give yourself a gift for your birthday. Have a urinalysis. This is the advise of Department of Health Regional Renal Disease Control Program (Redcop) Chief Maila Rostrata. "A urinalysis examination costs about P80 and should be done annually. This is the best way to prevent kidney diseases.” In the recently concluded Kapihan ng Mamamayan of the Philippine Information Agency held in Barangay Matatalaib in Tarlac City, Rostrata said, "There are various causes of kidney diseases, and the most important way to prevent it is through early recognition to thwart kidney diseases." Rostrata gave emphasis on the importance of urinalysis as it is one of the most common methods of medical diagnosis. Since in some cases, there are no manifestations of kidney diseases, urinalysis offers a great help in the early detection and prevention of the disease by simply testing its color and composition. Urinalysis is very a useful test in the diagnosis and screening of many diseases and conditions. Results of a urinalysis may be helpful in diagnosing urinary tract infections (UTIs) or kidney stones, screening for and evaluating many types of kidney diseases or liver disease and monitoring the progression of diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure (hypertension). “Based on the recent Philippine Renal Disease Registry, there are 10,000 to 12,500 Filipino nationwide who developed End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) annually. Incidence and prevalence of patient undergoing dialysis has been increasing based on 2008 and 2009 data,” Rostrata disclosed. Leading cause of ESRD is diabetic nephropathy, which is a complication of diabetes mellitus followed by hypertensive nephrosclerosis, which is a complication secondary to hypertension, and third, chronic glomurelonephritis. Kidney disease ranks the as the seventh leading cause of death in the country and only 2/3 of patients who develop this disease will undergo hemodialysis (HD), of which only 15 percent will live beyond one year. “Kidney diseases are preventable and we just need proper hygiene,” Rostrata said. REDCOP data shows that some latent kidney disease could be detected through routine urinalysis. Latent disease has no overt clinical signs or symptoms, thus, the patient does not see the need to seek medical consultation. Dr. Shalee Santos, a nephrologist and focal person of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute for Tarlac disclosed that Central Luzon had the second most number of HD patients in the country. “The region has 1,377 HD patients as of 2011 which was the reference point of the latest data. Metro Manila topped the list with 3,564 while Calabarzon ranked third with 1,257. There are a total of 10,491 patients nationwide,” Santos said. Most of the patients came from the 51-60-age bracket with 351 patients, followed by 61-70 with 327, and 41-50 with 244. There are a total 3,739 HD machines across the archipelago that are in 435 HD Centers. From the figure, 555 are in 71 centers in Central Luzon. Patients who undergo dialyze spend around P40,000 per month while those who get a transplant spend P800,000 to P1.2 million and need a lifetime maintenance of medicines costing P20,000-30,000 per month.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 00:32:55 +0000