As many as 90 percent of Americans who have chronic kidney disease (CKD) don’t know they have it until it’s advanced.
March is National Kidney Month, and DHEC is encouraging everyone to follow their kidney health closely. DHEC recognizes the significant roles health care professionals, renal dialysis facilities and those living with CKD play in the awareness of kidney disease.
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March is National Kidney Month. DHEC recognizes everyone living with kidney disease, healthcare professionals striving for treatment advancements and cures, and the renal dialysis facilities across South Carolina that continue to provide care to patients in need.
This year’s focus is self-sufficiency and helping people take charge of their health by educating themselves on the many factors that go into managing kidney disease.
In the past decade, the number of South Carolinians currently on dialysis and new cases has increased by 15%. Kidney-related deaths from nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis remain the 8th leading cause of death in the state. [BJ1] Many cases of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) go undetected for long periods of time and are often overlooked until moderate to severe symptoms appear. CKD is progressive and can put you at risk for serious health complications, including kidney failure.
Kidneys are vital to our health. While each is only about the size of a computer mouse, they filter all blood in your body every 30 minutes in order to remove waste, toxins, and excess fluids. They also help control blood pressure, stimulate production of red blood cells, and keep your bones healthy. Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for more kidney-friendly tips and related information.
Follow these healthy lifestyle tips to take charge of your kidney health:
It may seem difficult, but small changes can go a long way to keeping your kidneys and you healthier for longer!
For those currently afflicted with CKD and are looking for assistance in finding the right treatment plan or dialysis options, DHEC’s Healthcare Quality team strongly encourages those individuals to locate renal dialysis facilities near them by using our Find A Facility application. Contact information, licensing details, and a myriad of other data are available when searching through the GIS map.
Regulation 61-97, Standards for Licensing Renal Dialysis Facilities, was updated last year and its amendments became legally effective in the summer of 2020. The changes made to the regulation have allowed patients, families, renal dialysis facility staff, and our community to benefit from the improvements specified in the regulation. DHEC encourages the public to read the regulation to learn more about state-approved dialysis management, facility licensure requirements, current provider language, and a variety of useful information regarding our state-licensed renal dialysis facilities.
[BJ1]Source, (most current data published by DHEC): https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/Library/CR-011604.pdf
Did you know that six in ten adults in the United States have a chronic disease and four in ten adults have two or more? Chronic diseases are defined as conditions that last one year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities, daily living or both. They include but are not limited to:
Heart disease, cancer and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), many chronic diseases are caused by a short list of risk behaviors:
Chronic Disease Day was created to raise awareness and increase adoption of self-care best practices to encourage prevention and reduce risk. Use today to kickstart a healthier lifestyle. Here are some tips for better self-care:
Priority 2 of the South Carolina State Health Improvement Plan is detailed with ways community partners plan to promote healthy lifestyles and environments that prevent chronic conditions. A glance at our state’s current chronic disease statistics can be found in the 2018 South Carolina Health Assessment, where the assessment analyzes obesity, prediabetes, diabetes, hypertension, nutrition, physical activity, arthritis, heart disease, stroke, cancer and smoking from 2011 to 2016. South Carolina adults have higher rates than the national average in nearly every category of chronic disease.
Learn more self-care tips to keep avoid or improve chronic disease at https://chronicdiseaseday.org/.
Every year, 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes in the United States and many additional cases go undiagnosed. In South Carolina, the prevalence of diabetes is about 20 percent higher than the national average.
Diabetes can lead to other serious health conditions, including stroke, heart disease, nerve damage, kidney disease, swelling and edema. Women who had gestational diabetes and their children are more at risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Aside from all of the health risks, diabetes is more expensive. In fact, the average medical expenses among those with diagnosed diabetes is over two times higher than those without diabetes. The good news is that diabetes can be delayed or prevented by eating healthy and staying active.
On Friday, Nov. 16, 2018, DHEC staff from the Mills Jarrett complex in Columbia walked together in observance of World Diabetes Day. (The walk was postponed from the actual date of observance — Nov. 14 — due to rain.) The first sunny day all week, it was a great opportunity to get outside and learn more about World Diabetes Day, which occurs during National Diabetes Month.
The World Diabetes Day campaign focuses on a theme that runs for one or more years and the theme for 2018-19 is Family and Diabetes, which fits in nicely with the theme for National Diabetes Month this year, Promoting Health After Gestational Diabetes.
Employees received different “did you know…” facts about diabetes. While the facts will not teach them everything they need to know about testing or warning signs, the information will at least get the conversation started and hopefully encourage employees to not only think about their health, but the health of their family. With the holiday season in full swing, it is a good time to think about ways to stay healthy during celebrations and have open conversations with family members about health.
For some tips on staying healthy over the holidays, consider the following:
To learn more about World Diabetes Day, visit worlddiabetesday.org and for more information on American Diabetes Month, visit diabetes.org/in-my-community/american-diabetes-month.
Live Healthy S.C. 