Approximately 850 million people worldwide are living with chronic kidney disease (CKD)1, a progressive and potentially fatal condition.2 Yet, the majority remain undiagnosed and untreated.3
At AstraZeneca, we believe we have an important role to play in driving better patient outcomes for those with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Through global collaborative initiatives, informed by our real-world evidence (RWE) programmes, our ambition is to support healthcare professionals (HCPs) in prioritising CKD diagnosis and management, ensuring patients understand their risk factors and can address these with their HCPs, and to work with stakeholders in prioritising CKD screening at the policy level.
CKD is expected to become the world’s fifth leading cause of mortality by 20404, yet up to 90% of people living with CKD don’t know they have it.3
Patients with CKD experience decreased kidney function and, if untreated, their CKD could eventually progress to life-threatening kidney failure.5 Many of these patients will need kidney transplant or renal replacement therapy such as dialysis to replace their kidney function6, which significantly affects their quality of life.7 In fact, survey data reveals that individuals living with CKD report 24% lower quality of life scores compared to the general population, with notable impairments in daily activities, mobility and mental health.8
Even before progression to kidney failure, people living with CKD report that their lives and daily activities are impacted by the disease and its complications.9 They can experience significant physical limitations, loss of quality of life, unemployment, emotional and cognitive disorders, social isolation and premature death.10 If a patient’s CKD advances to where they need dialysis, they may experience mental stressors from the financial impact and time commitment of the treatment. Patients may also experience feelings that their care and disease are a burden to caregivers, adding to the mental health impacts of disease.11
CKD does not just impact patients at the individual level, but also society and the environment more broadly. CKD is a leading cause of health expenditure worldwide,12 heavily burdening individuals and healthcare systems alike. In high-income countries across the world, 2–3% of the annual healthcare budget is spent on renal replacement therapy, such as dialysis.13 Treatment costs are projected to reach approximately $186 billion USD across eight countries worldwide (the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, China, and Australia) by 2032.14
Additionally, treatments for kidney disease, like dialysis, leave a considerable carbon footprint and can cause environmental pollution due to frequent medical interventions, the use of products that generate medical waste, energy to run machines and water consumption.10 Dialysis remains one of the most carbon-intensive fields in medicine.15 In a year, globally dialysis uses more than 169 billion litres of water10 and creates more than one billion kg of medical waste.16
As the burden of CKD continues to grow, the environmental impact is expected to do so too: recent UK data predicts environmental impacts equivalent to 1.35 million tonnes of CO2 emissions for patients receiving in-centre haemodialysis by 2032 – and the total environmental impact would likely be larger if all CKD care pathways were included.17
