Kidney Disease - No Warning Signs

About 2 million Australians may be affected by early-stage kidney disease and not even know it, Kidney Health Australia said today as it released details of No Warning Signs, a community awareness program to combat the silent killer in Australia.

Anne Wilson CEO of Kidney Health Australia said, ”The No Warning Signs campaign to be officially launched on March 8th World Kidney Day is a major call to action for Federal and State Governments to put Chronic Kidney Disease on the National Agenda”.

Image right: Anne Wilson CEO Kidney Health Australia

Ms Wilson said that at this stage despite overwhelming evidence of the tsunami of kidney disease heading towards Australia’s health budget, there is no nationally coordinated preventative communication program in place by any level of government.

“On average, six new patients are accepted onto the Australian dialysis program each day. The cost of treating a patient with dialysis is $72,000 per annum and the number of patients on dialysis is increasing at 6% per annum”.

“Research shows over 25% of all patients coming to dialysis and transplantation do not see a kidney specialist until less than 90 days before dialysis starts, which is a clear indication of the need for a national awareness campaign in understanding and recognizing the early causes of kidney disease”.

“People would soon know if they were missing half the money in the bank, half of the use of an arm or had been short served by a half a meal in a restaurant, but in the case of kidney disease most people do not know they have a problem until their kidney function is well over half gone.”

Dr Tim Mathew, Medical Director of Kidney Health Australia said, “Many people do not understand the main job of their kidneys is to remove toxins and excess water from our blood. Our kidneys are roughly the size of two fists and are located deep in our abdomen, beneath our rib cage”.

“Every day our kidneys filter an average of 200 litres of blood – a quantity that would fill 20 buckets!

“Besides this impressive, daily feat, kidneys also help to control our blood pressure, to produce red blood cells and to keep our bones healthy.”

“Kidneys gradually lose their ability to function making it a “silent” disease as it often goes unnoticed because it may not be “felt”, Dr Mathew said.

“Through the No Warning Signs campaign we are calling on Australians to learn more about their kidneys and the steps to keep them healthy.”

Media Enquiries:

Anne Wilson CEO Kidney Health Australia Mobile: 0400 165 391

Dr Tim Mathew, Medical Director of Kidney Health Australia Mobile:

0416 149 863

Ron Smith Corporate Media Communications (03) 9818 5700 Mobile: 0417 329 201