Shocking New Study Finds One in Seven People Worldwide Now Living with Chronic Kidney Disease!
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Nov 08, 2025 3 hours, 34 minutes ago
Medical News: A Growing Global Health Emergency
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is fast emerging as one of the world’s most dangerous and overlooked health crises. According to a massive new international study led by NYU Langone Health, the University of Glasgow, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, nearly one in seven adults on Earth—around 14 percent of the global population—now suffers from CKD. Cases have more than doubled over the past three decades, climbing from 378 million people in 1990 to 788 million in 2023.
Shocking New Study Finds One in Seven People Worldwide Now Living with Chronic Kidney Disease
In this
Medical News report, researchers warn that CKD has silently become the ninth leading cause of death worldwide, killing about 1.5 million people in 2023 alone. The disease develops when the kidneys gradually lose their ability to filter toxins and excess fluid from the blood. Many individuals have no symptoms until the disease has reached advanced stages, by which time dialysis or kidney transplantation may be the only options left.
A Hidden Killer Linked to Modern Lifestyles
The findings, published in The Lancet, show that CKD’s rise parallels increases in chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity—all major risk factors for kidney damage. Lead author Dr. Josef Coresh, Director of the Optimal Aging Institute at NYU Langone Health, called CKD a “common, deadly, and worsening” public health emergency. He urged world leaders to prioritize kidney health alongside cancer and heart disease in global prevention agendas.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has now included CKD in its official target list of noncommunicable diseases, pledging to reduce early deaths from such illnesses by one-third by 2030. Researchers stress that early screening is key since timely treatment can slow or even halt disease progression.
Global Patterns and Risk Factors
The study examined over 2,200 scientific papers and national health databases from 133 countries, offering the most comprehensive analysis of CKD in nearly a decade. It revealed that impaired kidney function not only causes death directly but also contributes to around 12 percent of all global cardiovascular deaths. CKD was further ranked as the 12th leading cause of disability worldwide in 2023.
Regions like North Africa and the Middle East showed the highest prevalence, with almost one in five adults affected. The main drivers included high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and excess body weight—conditions linked to urbanization, poor diets, and sedentary lifestyles.
Unequal Access to Care
Co-lead author Dr. Morgan Grams of NYU Grossman School of Medicine emphasized that CKD is vastly underdiagnosed in low-income regions, where dialysis and kidney transplant services remain inaccessible for most. She called for expanded urine screening programs,
public education campaigns, and affordable access to the new generation of CKD medications that can slow disease progression and reduce heart complications.
A Wake-Up Call for the World
Experts warn that without urgent global action, CKD will continue to devastate lives quietly and relentlessly. Public health systems must shift toward prevention, with more widespread screening and community-level awareness about kidney health. As Dr. Coresh warned, “We can stop millions of kidney failures, but only if we act now.”
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: The Lancet
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01853-7/fulltext
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Medical News.
Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/nephrology-(kidneys)
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/coronavirus
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