Kidney Health Australia has revealed disturbing figures that rank the Illawarra and Shoalhaven as the worst area in the country for kidney disease.
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The State of the Nation report by Kidney Health Australia revealed 19.5 per cent of the region’s adult population showed signs of the disease, nearly double the national average.
This was followed by Inner West Sydney at 16.7 per cent and West Moreton-Oxley near Brisbane at 16.4 per cent.
The paper analysed previously unpublished statistics from the Australian Health Survey 2011-13 which is based on Medicare local catchment areas.
Kidney Health Australia’s CEO Anne Wilson said one in ten people are currently living with signs of chronic kidney disease.
“[If] detected early it can either be halted or progression to end stage kidney disease can be slowed by as much as 50 per cent,” she said.
Unfortunately for Ward Kane, 52, he ignored the warning signs 13 years ago and was left needing a kidney transplant.
This week he lies in Wollongong hospital again because his transplant from 2011 was rejected by his body. He underwent surgery on Friday to try and help the situation.
Mr Kane said he wanted to warn people of the signs of kidney disease so to prevent others from ending up in his shoes.
“I certainly was [complacent] at 40 and didn’t worry about it too much. It was a sneaking disease with issues which crept up on me and other people noticed,” he said.
“Being a male in your 40’s you’re bulletproof, you don’t really worry about health issues.”
He said other people saw he was losing weight, was lethargic, moody and had no stamina, but he just put it down to a “lurgy” he thought he picked up from a trip to South America.
The Mudgee local will most likely be back on dialysis three times a week and may have to travel back and forth to Wollongong until a spot opens at a clinic closer to him. But from his hospital bed he still wears a smile.
“It’s all about attitude,” he said. “Dialysis is only 20 hours a week, there’s still another 148 hours to live.”
In 2014, a total of 22,218 Australians died of a kidney-related disease, while kidney and urinary diseases were the fifth most common cause of death.
The report was released to coincide with Kidney Health Week – May 22 to 28.
QUICK FACTS:
- Around 90 per cent of people (1.5 million) with signs of chronic kidney disease are unaware that they have the disease.
- Kidney dialysis is the most common reason for admission to hospital with over 1.3 million admissions in 2014/15.
- The three most common causes of kidney disease requiring dialysis or transplant in Australia in 2014 were diabetes, glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the kidney) and hypertension (high blood pressure).
- Adult Australians are at increased risk of CKD if they: have diabetes have high blood pressure; have established heart problems (heart failure or heart attack) and/or have had a stroke; have a family history of kidney failure; are obese (Body Mass Index ≥ 30); are a smoker; are 60 years or older; are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin; have a history of acute kidney injury