Cordillera tops regions outside of Metro in kidney-related diseases

BAGUIO City—The Cordillera posted the highest number of kidney-disease patients among regions outside Metro Manila, records from the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) showed.

While kidney-related problems rank only 10th among killer diseases in the country, patients suffering from these spend much for costly treatments such as dialysis or transplant, doctors said.

The disease, however, can be detected and treated early if only people undergo regular urinalysis and medical checkup, said Dr. Antonio Paraiso, program manager of the Renal Disease Control Program (Redcop) of the NKTI.

Paraiso said 2010 records showed that the Cordillera had 171 patients undergoing dialysis, an increase from the 109 patients recorded in 2008.

Redcop records showed that 9,133 patients in the country were undergoing dialysis in 2010.

Factors

The NKTI did not say what factors contributed to the increase in the number of people seeking treatment for kidney problems in the Cordillera.

However, it said the Cordillera has a dialysis center and this may be a reason why cases are increasing because not only patients from the region’s provinces seek treatment here, but also those from the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions.

Kidney diseases, it said, kill about 7,000 Filipinos a year.

Paraiso said among the causes of kidney failure are hypertension, diabetes and kidney infection.

He said a person with a kidney problem shows no visible symptoms. “The only means to detect the presence of such kidney problems is through routine urinalysis,” a Redcop and NKTI fact sheet said.

In a health forum in Ilocos Norte in July, doctors of the NKTI said renal diseases could be diagnosed in their early stages through a urinalysis costing as low as P50, a basic and inexpensive tool of testing urine samples.

But Paraiso said the treatment of kidney diseases is expensive and has put a strain on the finances of patients’ families and on the government’s resources.

“If you have the disease, you become a problem to your family and even to your country because the treatment is too expensive. But let us look beyond the numbers, let us look at the social and economic impact of this disease,” Paraiso said.

A dialysis costs as much as P4,000 per session while a kidney transplant could cost as much as P400,000, excluding doctor’s fees and medicines.

Dr. Virginia Mangati, a nephrologist, said people could avoid kidney problems by avoiding salty and fatty food and by drinking plenty of water daily.

Paraiso, in a July forum in Ilocos Norte, said urinalysis is the cheapest way to determine who has kidney diseases.

Promoting urinalysis for rural residents is part of the renal disease control program that the NKTI has been undertaking since it launched the campaign in the mid-1990s.

Cases

The NKTI began the program by screening urine samples of school children around the country. The program later included adults in its coverage.

Based on NKTI’s data from state-run health facilities, dialysis cases in the Ilocos region reached 530 while 18 cases of transplants came from Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan.

Paraiso said the national average of kidney disease incidents is at 200 cases per million population while at least 9,000 patients go for dialysis treatments every year.

“Our goal is to lower the incidents [from 200 cases] and increase the number of cases that are treated by making people aware that this is a disease that needs attention,” he said.

Paraiso said the NKTI expects incidents of kidney ailments to shoot up first because more patients would be diagnosed with the disease if they heed calls to go for urinalysis.

“We are now seeing a higher number of kidney incidents not because many got sick, but because many have been diagnosed. Others are left undiagnosed or if diagnosed, they are left untreated. With our campaign, more patients will be diagnosed and treated,” he said.—Desiree Caluza and Cristina Arzadon, Inquirer Northern Luzon