HYDERABAD: One in four children and one in four adolescents are at the risk of suffering from chronic kidney disease in Telangana, finds the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS), conducted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The CNNS reports that 23.6 per cent of children aged between five to nine years and 24 per cent of adolescents aged 10 to 19 years, that were surveyed in the state, reported high serum creatinine values — above 0.7 mg/dL in children and above 1 mg/dL among adolescents. According to the survey, Andhra Pradesh has the highest prevalence of high serum creatinine — among 34.5 per cent children and 30 per cent adolescents. AP is followed by Sikkim, West Bengal, and then Telangana.
However, nephrologists from the city find that the survey data is not entirely believable, as they find it to be exaggerated. Dr KS Nayak, a senior nephrologist at a private hospital in Hyderabad said, “The veracity of the numbers reported in the survey needs to be verified. The sample size needs to be much larger. However, the report should act as an eye-opener as it warrants a deeper, more analytical study in the issue.”
Dr Sree Bhushan Raju, head of nephrology department at the NIMS said, “The survey relies only on the serum creatinine values, which is not the right way to understand the prevalence of kidney ailments. A right way to do it would be to calculate the glomerular filtration rate.”