A Health Promotion Administration (HPA) survey found that about 56 percent of people think that regularly taking medication for controlling the “three highs” — high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and high blood sugar — damages the kidneys. However, the administration said not taking the medication regularly causes more harm.
HPA Chronic Disease Control Division official Chia Shu-li (賈淑麗) said one of the administration’s follow-up surveys suggested that about one in 10 people (aged 20 or older) in Taiwan have chronic kidney disease, and a report showed that 73,339 people were end-stage kidney disease patients on dialysis treatment in 2013.
Furthermore, 46.6 percent of patients with diabetes also suffered chronic kidney disease, including a quarter with end-stage kidney disease, Chia said, adding that while diabetes is one of the main causes of kidney disease, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol are also causes.
A telephone survey conducted by the administration last year of more than 23,000 people aged 18 or older showed that up to 56 percent considered taking medication to control the “three highs” a cause of kidney damage and 15 percent said that they did not know, while 24 percent thought it would protect the kidneys, she said.
Failing to control the “three highs” could lead to faster progression of kidney disease, especially if they start taking other unknown herbal medicine, Chia added.
“Properly controlling the ‘three highs’ can slow the deterioration of kidney functions. If patients do not take their medication regularly and develop kidney disease, the risk and speed of disease progression can be much faster and many times worse than the relatively slight negative side effects from taking medication,” Taiwan Society of Nephrology president Chen Hung-chun (陳鴻鈞) said.
Chen said only about one-third of patients with diabetes develop kidney disease that requires dialysis treatment, and some patients that have controlled their “three highs” by taking medication regularly and eating a balanced diet have even delayed the progression of kidney disease by 15 to 20 years.
“Taking medication regularly according to a doctor’s prescription can actually protect a patient’s kidneys,” Chia said, adding that “a lack of exercise, obesity and bad choice of diet are all causal agents of chronic disease … so we should maintain a normal [healthy] lifestyle.”
Chen said in addition to drinking more water, controlling the “three highs” and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, getting regular examinations and having a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) test is also recommended to discover kidney disease in its early stages.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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