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José Vicente Zugasti is 32 years old and has needed dialysis since he was 5. His kidneys do not work properly due to nephronophthisis (small cysts in the kidney) that causes chronic kidney disease (CKD). She found out about his diagnosis by chance because he didn’t have any symptoms. “In a preoperative test for something else, the high urea and creatinine tests came out,” she recalls. After a biopsy, they confirmed that his kidneys were not working. Soon after, she had to go on dialysis. “I went to school in the morning and at night, after dinner, I connected to the machine at 8 o’clock“, remember. Today he continues with therapy at home, 2.5 hours, 5 days a week, thanks to the help of his partner, Vanesa, who is the one who prods him and is aware of the scales.
It is a disease that also requires following dietary restrictions, and in which the whole family has to get involved. Carry five years on the transplant list that would allow him to lead a normal life and awaits the call “as if it were the day of the Three Kings”.
José has shared his story in «
A silence that you have to listen», a documentary by AstraZeneca and the Association for the Fight Against Kidney Diseases (ALCER), directed by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, which has the endorsement of the Spanish Society of Nephrology (SEN). This audiovisual work aims to make society aware of a little-known pathology, but which affects 1 in 7 adults in Spain, which represents 15% of the total population. “Despite this prevalence, it is underdiagnosed,” says Dr. Patricia de Sequera, a nephrologist and president of the Spanish Society of Nephrology.
The reason is that it is a pathology that no symptoms until very advanced. “It is very important to carry out screening methods in patients at risk, since CKD does not produce symptoms until it is in advanced stages, hence the name “silent disease”, which causes patients not to go to the doctor until it is noticed, and in most cases it is already late, due to the advanced nature of the disease, ”says the doctor.
The expert proposes that, just as there is screening for colon cancer in feces, a blood and urine test should be carried out, “which is cheap and easy to do”, to detect chronic kidney disease early in the target population . The people who are most at risk for it they are those with diabetes, hypertension, those over 60 years of age and those with a genetic component.
It is a condition severe and progressive. CKD can significantly reduce life expectancy as kidney function declines, eventually progressing to its most severe form, known as end-stage kidney disease, in which kidney damage progresses to the point of requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant . The most common patient profile is that of a male, over 65 years of age and with some other chronic pathology, especially diabetes and high blood pressure.
“CKD is also a disease associated with rapid progression and high mortality,” says Daniel Gallego, president of the ALCER National Federation. “Patients with CKD have a increased risk of premature death from any cause compared to the general population, even in the early stages of the disease. In fact, it is the second cause of mortality that increased the most between the years 2006-2016 in Spain, with a growth of 30% », he details.
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Chronic kidney disease affects approximately 47 million people in the EU and more than 850 million people worldwide. An increase in these figures is expected, mainly due to the aging of the population, as well as the increase in the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes, its main risk factors.
In Spain, CKD is the second disease whose mortality and disability increased the most between 2006 and 2016, after Alzheimer’s. In addition, of the 55.4 million deaths that occurred in 2019 in the world, more than half (55%) are due to 10 pathologies, among which kidney disease is ranked for the first time, according to the latest report from World Health Organization. AND CKD is expected to be among the top five causes of death by 2040 in the world.
“Through awareness, we hope to improve the underdiagnosis of the disease and the knowledge, not only of the patient about their disease, but also of society in general,” says Marta Moreno, Director of Corporate Affairs and Market Access at AstraZeneca. , which adds: “Making kidney diseases visible and raising awareness of the strong impact on the quality of life of people who suffer from it and their families is key.”