Description

Chronic kidney disease is a non-communicable disease that has experienced a global surge in incidence and prevalence over the past few decades, and it has been increasingly considered a major contributor to the global disease burden and mortality. In prior years, most of the awareness and treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease, particularly in the developed world, had focused on patients with end stage renal disease, one of the potential outcomes of chronic kidney disease. More recent epidemiological data has shown that the majority of the burden of chronic kidney disease occurs in patients who are in the earlier stages of this condition, prior to end stage renal disease. The opportunities to recognize the signs, symptoms, and complications, and to consider extant treatment paradigms are useful in the global environment (both in developed and developing nations). We are very happy to present this work, authored by an international panel of experts, as a useful addition and tool for the global efforts to address the burden of chronic kidney disease.