India had the second-highest number of people with chronic kidney disease in 2023 at 138 million, following China at 152 million, according to a global study published in The Lancet journal.

The condition was the ninth-leading cause of death and claimed nearly 15 lakh lives globally the same year, researchers led by those at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and other institutes in the US and UK found.

The highest prevalence was seen in North Africa and the Middle East at 18 per cent each, nearly 16 per cent in South Asia and over 15 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Chronic kidney disease is a major contributor to heart disease and accounted for almost 12 per cent of cardiovascular deaths around the world in 2023. It ranked as the seventh leading cause for heart-related mortality, ahead of diabetes and obesity, the team said.

"Chronic kidney disease is both a major risk factor for other leading causes of health loss and a significant disease burden in its own right.

Yet, it continues to receive far less policy attention than other non-communicable diseases, even as its impact grows fastest in regions already facing the greatest health inequities," senior author Theo Vos, professor emeritus at IHME, said.

Source:Ndtv