Poor lifestyle responsible for rise in dialysis cases

Dubai - Over 2,000 patients undergoing dialysis in UAE.

More than 2,000 chronic kidney disease patients are undergoing dialysis in the UAE and this number is going up by 10 to 15 per cent each year.
Sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet as well as low awareness about the disease and the risks involved are considered to be the major factors influencing this healthcare trend.
With a growth in diabetes patients also on the up here, the UAE has witnessed an increase in the number of dialysis water testing in the UAE.
Prime Certification and Inspection, a sister company of Geoscience Testing Laboratory, reports the use of their dialysis water testing services by various healthcare centres in the UAE increased by 15 per cent in 2015 over 2014.
In the UAE, the rising incidence of kidney failure is primarily linked to the prevalence of diabetes.
CEO of Prime Certification and Inspection, Mary Jane Alvero-Al Mahdi said the 15 per cent growth in dialysis water testing services over the last year have been across both major government and privately-owned hospitals.
This increase can be attributed to the increasing number of kidney disease and diabetic patients in the country, she said.
"Treating dialysis patients requires extreme volumes of water. While a healthy individual would only require a daily water intake of about two litres, a single dialysis treatment for 4 hours, three times a week, will expose the patient to more than 500 litres of water per week."
A stark increase compared to the average weekly of 14 litres.
Dialysis patients are vulnerable to contaminants in the water used to prepare concentrate and dialysis fluid. As a result, the UAE requires that dialysis water is tested up to the highest levels to ensure safety.
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) 2014 data estimates that there were 803,900 cases of diabetes in UAE. The country ranks 16th globally and fifth regionally in the occurrence of diabetes, and one in five of the population suffers from the condition. Diabetes can damage the kidney's filtering function when high levels of blood sugar strain the kidney to filter too much blood. The kidney's blood vessels, which have filters to supposedly remove waste products from the blood but retain useful substances, are injured.
The prevalence of other lifestyle diseases in the UAE such as obesity and high blood pressure further contributes to the increasing incidence of end stage renal disease among residents.
More dialysis centres have opened in the UAE to cope up with the demand. A number of these dialysis centres have adopted internationally-accredited protocols and standards in providing high-quality dialysis treatment and clinical care to patients.
This is in line with the UAE Vision 2021 National Agenda that aims to achieve a world-class healthcare system.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com