Sharp increase in kidney disease a concern, says president

Concern is growing about the rising number of Barbadians requiring dialysis for kidney disease, with advocates warning that the country’s health system may soon struggle under the demand.

President of the Barbados Kidney Association, Sadie-Ann Sisnett, said the increase in dialysis patients in recent years is alarming.

She spoke to the DAILY NATION yesterday after the association officially launched its observance of World Kidney Week with a church service at St Cyprian’s Anglican Church, Belleville, St Michael. The service marked the start of several activities planned to educate the public about kidney disease and encourage early testing and prevention.

Sisnett acknowledged that the growing numbers of people requiring dialysis highlighted the urgent need for greater public awareness and healthier lifestyles.

Statistics indicate, she said, that the number of people receiving dialysis in Barbados has increased sharply over a short period of time.

“In 2023, according to PAHO, there were about 260 persons on dialysis. This year it’s over 400 and there’s limited capacity to accommodate that kind of increase so quickly at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” she said.

She pointed out that the rising demand is putting pressure on existing services and “persons are then therefore referred to private services, but they are still under the care of the hospital”. “Those facilities are most likely going to be reaching capacity at any point in time, so we do not have the shared resources and capacity to deal with the increase and the fast increase in the numbers of persons going on dialysis.” Sisnett said many of the cases are linked to lifestyle-related conditions, particularly diabetes and hypertension. “A lot of it is due to lifestyle diabetes, hypertension that’s food, that’s lack of exercise, that’s fried and salty foods and all those things that taste good but are not really good for you,” she said. She also highlighted dehydration as another factor that can affect kidney health in Barbados’ tropical climate.

“Most importantly as well, in our hot climate persons don’t drink enough water. Your kidneys rely on water to flush your body of toxins so we need to encourage our population to drink more water and lose some weight,” she said, adding that obesity was also a major risk factor.

She advised Barbadians to get their kidney function test done with their doctor or at the Forlam Foundation in Carrington Village, St Michael, which offers free kidney testing.

Sisnett stressed that early detection is critical because kidney disease can often be reversed in its early stages.

“A lot of it is based on lifestyle, you can reverse the effects of kidney disease at stage one and stage two,” she said.

One of the biggest challenges, she explained, is that kidney disease often develops without obvious symptoms.

“There are actually very little signs in stage one to stage three. That’s why it’s called a silent killer as a lot of non-communicable diseases are. You don’t really get a lot of effects or symptoms for a lot of persons in those early stages.”

By the time symptoms appear, the disease is often advanced, which is stage four and five when there is very little that can be done “and there’s very little hope of reversal at that point in time”, Sisnett said.

Among the warning signs she highlighted were swelling of the hands and feet, itchy skin, foamy urine, puffy eyes and extreme fatigue.

The service has become a tradition for the association with World Kidney Week lasting from March 8 to 14 and World Kidney Day being on March 12.

“I’m glad that it’s being talked about more because usually kidney disease is actually kind of in the background. People talk about hypertension and diabetes but not realising that the end stage of that leads to damage of your kidneys,” she said.

Sisnett explained that a number of medical conditions and treatments can eventually affect kidney function.

“Even something like chemotherapy, while it will help you get rid of the cancer which is fantastic, it can sometimes kill your kidneys so you actually end up on dialysis as well,” she noted. (TRY)

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