Time to act on kidney health inequalities
Kidney Research UK is calling for urgent action to address the social and economic inequalities that put some people at greater risk of kidney disease, and can prevent patients from accessing appropriate care and treatment.
In a new report, we show inequalities due to age, sex, education, location or lack of wealth persist, despite widespread awareness of the barriers some people face.
Time To Act: A New Review of Kidney Health Inequalities
The report, Time To Act: A New Review of Kidney Health Inequalities, is authored by an academic, clinical and patient team and comes five years after the charity’s previous report of kidney health inequalities outlined recommendations for change in clinical and research practice. The new review exposes the limited progress since 2018, impacting people’s health and risk of disease.
The updated evidence confirms some communities are still impacted more by kidney disease than others, and disease progresses faster in some people. The report concludes that quality of care can vary and that a lack of focus on some groups of people in research studies means that their needs and experiences are overlooked.
The pdf reports are designed to be accessible for people using screen readers and assistive technology.
People often impacted in multiple ways
Often, inequalities overlap and many people experience inequalities in multiple ways, which increases their risk of poor kidney health. The report shows how easy it is for this to happen, for example, people of Black, Asian or mixed heritage are more likely to experience kidney failure and need dialysis or a transplant to stay alive, than white people. Black people are more likely to live in deprived areas and kidney failure is twice as likely in under 70s living in deprived areas. In addition, many people struggle with their mental health as a result of their kidney disease and it can have a cyclical effect, people with mental health conditions being at greater risk of kidney disease progression and worse outcomes.
The charity has identified vital gaps in research including opportunities to use knowledge of genetic and societal risk factors to design interventions to improve kidney health, provide more evidence about how differentiated public health communication can help patients understand their diagnosis and care and to show how optimising digital health innovations can reduce kidney health inequalities.
Meaningful engagement from patients with diverse personal demographics and life experiences must underpin all research, the charity says.
Everyone’s responsibility
Professor Liz Lightstone, trustee at Kidney Research UK and Professor of Renal Medicine at Imperial College London said: “Kidney Research UK will continue to work tirelessly for patients by providing focused research investment. Wherever possible we will seek to fund research that tackles these issues, starting with the grants round we have opening at the end of this month.
“Eradicating unjust kidney health inequalities is an urgent priority and must become everyone’s responsibility, so that we can increase engagement and trust and deliver true change.
“Explicitly including kidney disease in government health strategies, programmes and action plans addressing health inequities, prevention, long-term conditions, multimorbidity and screening could make an enormous difference.
“We look forward to working with other funders, organisations, health decision makers and the new government so that together, we can ensure everyone has their fair chance at good kidney health.”
"Everyone deserves a fair chance at good kidney health." Professor Liz Lightstone
The report was compiled by experts in kidney health from across the UK and across the kidney community, including kidney patients and primary and secondary care professionals. As well as the full report, a lay summary is available, and a dashboard showing the research gaps that need to be urgently addressed.
Resources for researchers
Visit our kidney health inequalities web page to read the report, view the research recommendations dashboard and download facts and statistics.
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