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Celebrating pioneering research on World Kidney Day
8th March 2018
Celebrated every year on the second Thursday of March, World Kidney Day (WKD) is the global awareness campaign that aims to increase awareness of the importance of our kidneys to our health, and reduce the impact of kidney disease and its associated problems worldwide.
In 2018, World Kidney Day and International Women’s Day are marked on the same day, offering the opportunity to highlight the importance of women’s health and particularly their kidney health. While severity can vary, CKD is incurable and causes the patient to need lifelong care. As the incidence of kidney disease escalates, World Kidney Day plays a crucial role in educating the public, the medical community and governments and encouraging prevention and early detection of kidney disease.
Kidney disease is common in Scotland; around 3.2% of the population have been diagnosed and the number of people being treated for kidney failure (and requiring transplant or dialysis) is on the increase.
Innovative renal research promises revolutionary changes to kidney patients’ experiences and through strong collaboration across Scotland a range of high quality research projects are underway highlighted in Pioneering Renal Research in Scotland.produced by Kidney Research UK.
Our NRS Renal specialty group, helps drive research that deals with the investigation, diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of all types and stages of kidney disease. Our aim is to have a beneficial impact on quality of life by ensuring that people who have kidney disease have the opportunity to know about, and participate in relevant clinical research studies.
We support and promote research:
- involving medicines to treat kidney disease
- in acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, dialysis and kidney transplantation
- in disorders of the bladder and urinary problems
- in vasculitis, diabetic kidney disease and glomerulonephritis
- into inherited kidney disease such as polycystic kidney disease and other rarer kidney disorders
- to reduce the complications of kidney disease such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease
- to improve the symptom control and quality of life of patients with kidney failure
- developing imaging technology such as MRI, ultrasound and CT scanning
- to improve outcomes for patients needing dialysis or kidney transplants
Through investments in the NHS Research Scotland infrastructure, a coordinated network of clinical research expertise, data safe havens and accredited tissue biorepositories facilitate recruitment to renal studies and the use of tissue and health data in research.
Last year (2016 – 2017) 49 studies were active in Scotland with 548 patients taking part in renal studies. The inaugural NHS Research Scotland Renal Research Day was also held on 29th September 2017, bringing together senior investigators from across Scottish Universities, Consultant Nephrologists, Transplant Surgeons and Research nurses to hear updates on Scotland’s research strategy, promote collaborations and share experiences in trials, epidemiology and basic science related to renal disease
Dr Patrick Mark, NRS Renal Research lead, Clinical Reader (Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences) and Associate (School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing) commented:
“Unfortunately kidney disease is a common and growing problem in Scotland. It means research is critical to the investigation, diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment. Fortunately, we also have a wealth of expertise in Scotland, strong research infrastructure and great e-health records; so through strong collaboration of scientists, clinicians, research charities and kidney patients we can deliver innovative research, increase the opportunities for patient to participate in clinical trials, and help deliver better treatments.”
Notes
- World Kidney Day is a joint initiative of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF). Full information and how to get involved in the campaign is available via http://www.worldkidneyday.org/
- Follow @WorldKidneyDay to stay up to date with the campaign and use #WorldKidneyDay
- Read Kidney Research UK report on Pioneering Renal Research in Scotland and follow @Kidney_research for latest news
- For more information on NRS Renal Network visit www.nrs.org.uk/renal or follow @NRS_RENAL
- Follow our NRS Renal Research lead, Clinical Reader (Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences) and Associate (School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing), Dr Patrick Mark @drpaddymark
