American Kidney Fund President Explains Why Blacks Should Know the Risks

“It is an important cause … people who are high risk should be aware of kidney disease and they need to know what their risks are for getting the disease. Unfortunately African Americans, for reasons that we don’t fully understand, are at very high risk of getting kidney disease and moving into kidney failure,” she shares.

The kidneys are a vital organ. They filter wastes from the blood, control the body’s fluid balance and blood pressure, and help make red blood cells and urine.

If you meet an of the following criteria you may be at risk for kidney disease: diagnosed with diabetes or hypertension; have a relative on dialysis; or over 60 years old and are African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American or Asian American. Diabetes and hypertension are the first and second leading causes of kidney failure, respectively. Even though the incidences of kidney disease are prevalent for people who fit in the aforementioned categories, Burton says the disease doesn’t discriminate. “We all need to be concerned. The incident does tend to get greater as you get older, but it affects people of all ages. Even children are also affected by kidney disease — most of the children affected have some congenital disease.

“One disturbing [trend] is childhood obesity; it’s like a continuum. Childhood obesity leads to type 2 diabetes which leads to hypertension which leads to kidney disease. Children at younger ages are becoming very obese and are developing aggressive high blood pressure, which leads to kidney disease. We really want to share the information that we have about what makes a person at risk,” says Burton. –yvette caslin
For more information, visit kidneyfund.org.