Abu Dhabi: Kidneys are remarkable organs: with their thousands of capillaries, a pair of kidneys filter waste products from the blood. But lifestyle diseases have been a scourge for kidney health.
In the UAE, as in most of the world, diabetes and hypertension are the biggest risk factors for kidney disease. Nearly 80 per cent of kidney damage can be attributed to these two conditions, and ahead of World Kidney Day 2021 tomorrow (March 11), experts are calling upon residents to safeguard their kidneys.
Dr Nizar Attallah Across the world, about 850 million people suffer from kidney disease. “While exact statistics are not available, we believe that the rate of chronic kidney disease in the UAE is higher than the rate in Europe. The major cause for this is of course the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension, which are themselves brought on by obesity and unhealthy lifestyle choices,” said Dr Nizar Attallah, transplant nephrologist at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. About on