American Kidney Fund’s New Know Your Kidneys Program Provides Roadmap to Better Kidney Health
May 13 2024 - 10:09AM
Today, the American Kidney Fund (AKF) announced a major expansion
of its award-winning Know Your Kidneys program, providing people at
risk for kidney disease and those living with kidney disease with
comprehensive, interactive resources to support them through the
entire kidney disease journey – from prevention to
post-transplant.
Providing a roadmap toward a better understanding of kidney
disease and the steps people can take to improve their health, the
new Know Your Kidneys was designed to be a customized
experience—helping people know their kidneys, know their cause and
know their plan.
“Knowledge is power when it comes to preventing and living with
kidney disease,” said LaVarne A. Burton, President and CEO of the
American Kidney Fund. “We know that the path to a kidney disease
diagnosis may not be clear cut for many people, and care plans are
as varied as individual journeys. We have made extensive
enhancements to this program to equip people with the
evidence-based information and tools they need to take charge of
their kidney health, which can in turn help us change the overall
trajectory of kidney disease for the better.”
AKF’s dedicated webpages to this program, available at
KidneyFund.org/Know-Your-Kidneys, include resources that cater to
the specific needs of each patient, as well as promote the
importance of health equity and the impact of kidney disease on
communities of color, who are at greater risk for kidney failure
(end-stage kidney disease or ESKD). Visitors to the website will
learn general information about the kidneys and how they work, and
will be directed to one of three pathways based on their current
kidney health:
- Know Your Kidneys, which offers general
information about kidney disease, prevention strategies, signs and
symptoms to watch out for, risk factors and important tests to
understand kidney health. This pathway includes an interactive tool
that guides users to enter their lab results and other health
information and then provides them with a personalized kidney
health report. Lab results include estimated glomerular filtration
rate (eGFR), which measures how well your kidneys are working, and
urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, or UACR test, which measures how
much albumin and creatinine are in your urine.
- Know Your Cause, which provides
disease-specific content on possible causes of a person’s existing
kidney disease, including diabetes, hypertension (high blood
pressure), or a rare or genetic disease. Know Your Cause offers
information about testing options, finding a genetic counselor and
participating in clinical trials, as well as an interactive tool to
guide patients on how to speak with their doctor about identifying
the cause of their kidney disease.
- Know Your Plan, which provides information to
people who know they have chronic kidney disease or kidney failure
and want more guidance on living a healthy life with their
condition. This pathway offers guidelines on nutrition, physical
activity and managing mental health, along with information about
treatment options. There is also an interactive tool that enables
patients to create a custom and actionable plan for managing their
kidney disease.
Kidney disease inflicts tremendous physical, emotional and
financial burdens on patients and their families. Symptoms
typically don’t appear until later stages, so 9 in 10 people with
early kidney disease are unaware they have it. While damage to
kidneys cannot be reversed or cured, there are steps people can
take to prevent or slow down the damage and help them feel their
best. The most important thing is to get routine blood and urine
tests which will show doctors how well the kidneys are working and
help to track kidney health over time. Once someone has reached
kidney failure, they require dialysis or a kidney transplant to
live.
The Know Your Kidneys – Know Your Cause – Know Your Plan program
is made possible with the support of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical,
Inc., Travere Therapeutics and Novartis.
Nancy Gregory
American Kidney Fund
(240) 292-7077
ngregory@kidneyfund.org