A patient with kidney failure is treated at Hanoi's Viet Duc Hospital (Photo: nld.com.vn) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The number of peoplesuffering from kidney problems was increasing in Vietnam, and kidneyfailure had begun to harm more and more young people, doctors have said.
A 19-year-old female patient from central Nghe An provincehas been undergoing dialysis for five years.
Her relatives said she started feeling tired and losing weight whenshe was in 9th grade.
One day, she fainted in class and was hospitalised. Herfamily was shocked when the doctors said she would have to undergo dialysis forthe rest of her life, Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaperreported.
Recently, she was taken to Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi for a checkup because shehad been suffering from a fever for several days.
The doctor said she needed a kidney transplant because shehad a large tumour.
In recent years the number of cases of kidneyfailure has been increasing among young people, and has been complicatedby metabolic diseases such as diabetes and gout.
Obesity can also damage kidney function before diabetesand hypertension develop.
These two diseases have negative effects on the kidney andare the main cause of kidney disease, so the prevention of diabetes andhypertension is very important, doctors said.
Doctor Nguyen Huu Dung, head of the Department of ArtificialNephrology at Bach Mai Hospital, said the hospitalregularly admitted young patients aged from 24.
Even students have been treated for haemodialysis in recent years.
Most patients only go to hospital for a check-up whenthings get bad, but by that point they are at end-stage chronic kidneyfailure.
Many people still think that diabetes and high blood pressureonly attack the elderly, but in fact these two diseases are increasingamong young people aged 24-25, according to Dr Nguyen The Cuong, head ofthe Nephrology and Dialysis Department at Viet Duc Hospital.
It is estimated there are five million people suffering from kidneydisease in Vietnam, and there are more than 8,000 new cases every year.
The number of patients with end-stage renal failure requiring dialysis is about800,000.
The hospital's Kidney Dialysis Department alone is treatingmore than 700 patients following their kidney transplants.
One of the causes we often encounteris people using herbal medicine voluntarily which affectskidney function.
Many people suffered kidney failure due to arbitrary drug useand the habit of eating salty food, doctors said.
"The alarming fact we have to face is that manypatients are hospitalised in serious conditions. But instead of going to amedical facility for treatment, patients use drugs after searching for acure on the internet," Dr Cuong said.
To prevent kidney failure, it is necessary to drink enoughwater every day and have a reasonable diet.
People also need to reduce salt intake - a factor thatpromotes high blood pressure and other metabolic diseases, according to doctors.
Chronic kidney failure cannot be cured, but treatmentcould help slow disease progression, improve symptoms and limitcomplications, they said.
"It is important to detect the disease early inhigh-risk groups, especially people with diabetes and hypertension or withfamily histories of kidney disease. These people need to haveperiodic tests every year so we can actively treat them early to avoidprogression of kidney disease," Dr Dung recommended.
VNA
