New campaign aims to reduce hypertension and avoid kidney failure

With cases of hypertension, the leasing cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD), on the rise, the Thai Hypertension Society is encouraging everyone to check their blood pressure under its new health campaign “CheCKD Now”.

The Thai Hypertension Society is working closely with the government, hospitals and a leading pharmaceutical company on the campaign, which aims to educate the general public about the linkage between hypertension and CKD, and encourage everyone to have a regular microalbuminuria test, a simple test that looks for the smallest amount of protein in urine—the early sign of kidney problems and CKD.

Prof. Dr. Apichard Sukonthasarn, President of Thai Hypertension Society, noted that the CKD is estimated to affect at least 10 million people, or about one in seven individuals. However, many are unaware that their kidneys are not functioning effectively.

Every year, 200,000 kidney disease patients have to start dialysis, a treatment that filters the blood when the kidneys cannot efficiently remove waste. Dialysis steals 2-3 days a week from each patient’s life as it can only be done at a hospital or clinic.

Of this number, around 10,000 patients die of kidney failure per year, meaning one or two patients die every hour, according to the Thai Hypertension Society.

To prolong or reduce the number of patients requiring dialysis or at risk of death, Prof. Dr. Apichard recommends everyone to check for hypertension and stayed informed.

He explained that high blood pressure and kidney disease are closely linked. High blood pressure damages the blood vessels. As kidney functions as the main blood filter in the human body, damaged blood vessels will lessen kidney’s ability to filter waste and fluid excess.

“There are no clear symptoms of hypertension and the first stages of CDK. You won’t know until you check for them. The earlier you detect the signs, the faster treatment can start. And, that will effectively slow down the progress of the disease,” he said.

One recommendation is not to be complacent, even if your blood pressure is within the normal limit of 130/80 mmHg. Being at or near this upper threshold already puts you at risk.

“A major problem is that many people do not accept that they have hypertension. They refuse to take medication to control their blood pressure, believing that doing so will overwork and damage their kidneys. This is completely incorrect. In reality, not taking the appropriate medication and failing to manage blood pressure effectively is what leads to kidney failure,” Prof. Dr. Apichard explained.

In addition to hypertension control, the Thai Hypertension Society is working with the government and hospitals to make the microalbuminuria test a standard in regular check-ups by providing test kits to partner hospitals. At present the regular urine test is for the larger amount of protein, which is only found when kidney function has been considerably weakened.

“The government now only supports microalbuminuria test in high-risk kidney patients. But that’s not enough. It should become standard for all, so that doctors can detect the signs of kidney disease at the early stage. The earlier we detect the signs, the quicker we can prevent the disease from progressing so rapidly. Patients will live longer, enjoy better quality of life, and lower their risk of becoming a slave to dialysis,” Prof. Dr. Apichard said.