Majority of kidney disease patients at Korle Bu below 40 years – Specialist

Perhaps one of the most vital organs of the human body, the unmatched role of the kidney is to filter blood circulating in the body. But what happens when the bean-shaped organs begin to fail in performing its functions?

Swelling of feet from retention of fluids, frail body, decline energy, reduced amount of urine and several others begin to characterize a once healthy human being.

The role of the kidney and its conservation seems to have been taken for granted by several people, particularly in Ghana. This is evident in the consistent increase in kidney-related infections in health facilities across the country.

In Korle Bu Teaching Hospital alone in 2018, an alarming total of 547 cases of chronic kidney disease were recorded, most of such patients according to Dr Mensah Amoah, a Physician Specialist and Nephrology Fellow at the hospital were between the ages of 20 to 40 years.

It must be noted, however, that kidney failure or chronic kidney failure topped the list of ten killer diseases which contributed to high death rates at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

In an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, Dr Mensah Amoah lamented the rate at which the disease is spreading among the youth. He said though several steps have been taken to ensure adequate treatment and care, it does not guarantee a cure.

“Generally, the number of kidney diseases that are being diagnosed over the past few years has been increasing in number…In Ghana and other African countries, we’re seeing more kidney diseases in younger population between the ages of about 20 and 40 years. So majority of our patients here are below 40 years which is very worrying,” Dr Mensah Amoah told GhanaWeb.

He said health professionals in the country are currently battling to unravel causes of the sudden surge in such cases involving the younger population.

“Most of them have been associated with hypertension and followed by diabetes. But we also have a large number of people that we do not fully understand why they have kidney diseases. Most of them have a short history of hypertension, maybe one or two years…”

Dr Amoah has advised persons to adopt healthy lifestyles in order to avert the dire consequences of kidney-related disease.