Over 4 million people in Italy with chronic kidney problems, it is urgent to intervene on lifestyles, primarily on eating habits, to improve the quality of life of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), delaying entry into dialysis or avoiding the use of transplants.
This is the appeal that doctors and experts address to patients, institutions and healthcare personnel on the occasion of World Kidney Day which is celebrated on 14 March, recalling the importance of accompanying drug therapy with a healthy lifestyle based on the Mediterranean diet and on regular physical activity.
CKD affects more than 850 million people worldwide and caused more than 3.1 million deaths in 20191.
In Italy, it affects approximately 6-7% of the adult population, with a prevalence in the elderly, especially if already affected by chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, arterial hypertension and high cholesterol.
Since it is a "silent" pathology that does not present obvious symptoms, it is very difficult to diagnose it in time and this can lead to a worsening of the state of health.
This is why early diagnosis and prevention, especially through adequate nutritional treatment, are the fundamental tools for offering the most effective treatments and improving the quality of life of patients and their caregivers, with savings in social and economic costs for the whole community.
"Alongside the pharmacological therapies available today, it is essential to combine adequate dietary-nutritional therapy (TDN): it is only from the combination of these two elements, as well as from the synergistic work between nephrologists and dieticians/nutritionists, that a strategy capable of significantly slowing down can be implemented the progression of the disease and avoid dialysis - comments Massimo Morosetti, President of FIR - Fondazione Italiana Rene. The low-protein diet controls the symptoms of advanced stages and helps to delay entry into dialysis. Diets for these conditions must be personalized on individual cases , take into account the associated pathologies".
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