NEW YORK, March 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of
National Kidney Month which starts today, the National Kidney
Foundation's (NKF) national public awareness campaign, "Are You
the 33%?" enters a new phase focusing on the connection between
type 2 diabetes (T2D) and kidney disease, also known as chronic
kidney disease (CKD). NKF urges everyone to find out if they're the
1 in 3 at risk for developing kidney disease by taking a one-minute
quiz at MinuteForYourKidneys.org.
Diabetes is a leading risk factor for developing kidney disease.
Over time, having high blood sugar from diabetes can cause damage
inside your kidneys. But it doesn't have to end up this way;
because with careful control of glucose (sugar) levels, there is
evidence that you can prevent kidney disease in people with
diabetes.
Award-winning actress, Debbie
Allen joined the campaign as the T2D Campaign Celebrity
Spokesperson in February, Black History Month, to help promote
awareness of diabetes as a leading cause for developing chronic
kidney disease. Allen has a family history of diabetes and was
recently diagnosed with pre-diabetes. On March 11th, World Kidney Day, people
with T2D will have a unique opportunity to attend a virtual
fireside chat to hear Debbie Allen's
personal story first-hand. Allen will be joined by NKF's Chief
Medical Officer, Dr. Joseph
Vassalotti and a patient advocate with T2D and chronic
kidney disease. Participants will have the opportunity to ask the
speakers their own questions via a chat function. See registration
details. Note this event is not open to media.
"Millions of adults in the U.S. are walking around with kidney
disease and don't even know it. And if you have type 2 diabetes you
are at increased risk for developing kidney disease," said
Kevin Longino, CEO of National
Kidney Foundation and a kidney transplant patient. "Having kidney
disease also puts you at greater risk of developing
life-threatening complications from COVID-19, so it's really
important that people go to our one minute quiz and find out
about their kidney health."
People of certain racial and ethnic groups are more likely to
develop kidney disease than others. Blacks or African Americans are
13 percent of the U.S. population, but represent 35 percent of
those with kidney failure. Hispanics or Latinos are 1.3 times as
likely as non-Hispanics/Latinos to develop kidney failure. A
leading cause of kidney disease is diabetes which is more
prevalent in these communities. Everyone needs to know about
kidney disease, but especially if you have any one of these
additional risk factors: high blood pressure, heart
disease, obesity, and family history of kidney disease.
"With 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. at risk for developing kidney
disease, we must urgently transform understanding risk into taking
actions to protect kidney health," said Joseph Vassalotti, M.D., Chief Medical Officer
at the NKF. "We want to help millions of Americans who have type 2
diabetes – those at highest risk for developing kidney disease – by
encouraging them to talk to their doctors to learn if testing and
other treatments are right for them."
The "Are You the 33%?" campaign urges T2D patients and
everyone with a risk factor to learn more by taking a simple,
one-minute online quiz at MinuteForYourKidneys.org.
The campaign microsite is available in both English and Spanish at
MinuteForYourKidneys.org. Patients should also ask their doctors
about two simple tests to diagnose kidney disease: a specific urine
test, called uACR, and a calculated blood test, called eGFR.
In addition, Healthy.io, the creator of smartphone
urinalysis, is partnering with the NKF to offer its home urine
albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) test kit, free of charge, to
people with type 2 diabetes who are at increased risk for
developing kidney disease. Take the one-minute quiz
at MinuteForYourKidneys.org.
Join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag
#MinuteForYourKidneys.
About Kidney Disease
In the
United States, 37 million adults are estimated to have
kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease—and
approximately 90 percent don't know they have it. 1 in 3
American adults are at risk for chronic kidney
disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include:
diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family
history. People of African American, Hispanic, American Indian,
Asian, or Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for
developing the disease. African Americans are almost 4 times
more likely than White Americans to have kidney failure.
Hispanics are 1.3 times more likely than non-Hispanics to
have kidney failure.
About National Kidney Foundation
The National Kidney
Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive, and
longstanding patient-centric organization dedicated to the
awareness, prevention, and treatment of kidney disease in the U.S.
For more information about NKF, visit www.kidney.org.
Facebook.com
Twitter:@NKF
www.kidney.org
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SOURCE National Kidney Foundation