To reduce the Proportion of Adolescents aged 12-17yrs with Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease is one of the major public health problems affecting populations globally. This disease usually occurs when there is an impairment in the normal functioning of the kidney, accompanied by persistent worsening of the damage, which results from an underlying disease of health condition. Some of the most notable health conditions that are considered to be the greatest contributors of chronic kidney disease are diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney infections. Notably, this health issue has drawn increased attention from various stakeholders in the public health sector. The growing concern over chronic kidney disease is particularly influenced by the adverse implications it has on the personal, social, and economic wellbeing of the affected persons, local communities, and nations at large.

Brief Overview

The social and economic effects of chronic kidney disease are very evident in the United States. This health problem continues to affect the livelihood and cause disruptions within the social fabric of the population. For instance, a family with a member ailing from chronic kidney disease often has to bear the burden of taking care of such patients. This duty may be physically and emotionally tiring, especially because such patients may not be able to perform highly demanding tasks of engage in certain activities. Additionally, chronic kidney disease is often expensive to treat and manage. Individuals, families, and the government are forced to part ways with huge amounts of funds in order to address the effects of this disease. To put this into perspective, the federal government usually spends over $80 billion annually on chronic kidney disease and its associated complications like end-stage renal disease (Ozieh et al., 2017). Moreover, about 18.2% of the annual budgetary disbursements for Medicare usually goes towards treating people with chronic kidney disease alone, particularly those who do not require dialysis (Ozieh et al., 2017). These figures show how chronic kidney disease consumes funds which could have been used to expand healthcare facilities.

Significance of the Health Problem

Because of the various adverse impacts associated with chronic kidney disease, this public health problem becomes of great significance to the patient and healthcare community. Therefore, addressing chronic kidney disease is essential to reduce the socioeconomic burden of the disease and improve the lives of the people. Additionally, this move will also help reduce or eliminate health care disparities that are usually experienced by population groups that are disproportionately at risk of developing chronic kidney disease.

Patient Population

The target patient population group in this paper is adolescents. This population group includes individuals from the age of 12 to 17 years. Patients belonging to this population group are not yet mature physically, emotionally, and mentally. For this reason, members of this population group have limited knowledge and decision-making abilities regarding complex health issues. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017), the Chronic Kidney Disease Surveillance System estimated that close to 10,000 children and adolescents suffer from kidney-related illnesses. Most of these patients have to depend on advance interventions such as dialysis and kidney transplant to stay functional.

The main reason for choosing this patient population is because it comprises of individuals who are still going to school. Therefore, the presence of chronic illnesses such as kidney disease can have significant impacts on various aspects of their life. For instance, patients with chronic kidney disease may be required to visit the hospital frequently, about 3 times weekly for hemodialysis. This commitment may disrupt their normal academic development, self-esteem, and socialization abilities (Tjaden et al., 2012). Failure to achieve these early developmental milestones while still young is likely to cause detrimental effects to individuals in this population group during their adulthood years (Xiao et al., 2019). Therefore, judging from the high prevalence rates of chronic kidney disease among the adolescents, it is somewhat frightening to predict the cumulative effects that poor health among the adolescents could have in the overall society. As such, it is essential to get an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the issues associated with chronic kidney disease among adolescents to help increase awareness about it and develop effective interventions to eradicate its adverse impacts in the society. 

National Healthy People 2030 Goal for Chronic Kidney Disease

The national Healthy People 2030 goal that is relevant to the topic of this paper is to “improve the health and well-being of adolescents” (Healthy People 2030, n.d.). This Healthy People 2030 goal has several objectives, one of them being to “reduce the proportion of adolescents (aged 12 to 17 years) with chronic kidney disease.”

Definitely, every state has an obligation to play when it comes to facilitating adequate and effective handling of public health issues. The State of Texas, for example, has demonstrated deliberate effort in its attempt to reach the national goal of reducing new cases of chronic kidney disease and the various complications associated with the health problem, including disabilities, death, and economic burden. This effort has been demonstrated through the establishment of several governmental agencies focused on providing testing, education, and financial support to patients with chronic kidney disease.

Assessment of Resources

Several resources are already available in Texas that offer diverse assistance to the patients with chronic kidney disease. Some of the most notable resources include the Texas Kidney Foundation, Texas – Dialysis Patient Citizens Education Center, Kidney Health Care, and Kidney Fund Organization. This organization offers free early detection services for all residents of Texas in order to help identify the kidney disease while still at the early stages. These resources help provide a wide range of services and interventions to patients with chronic kidney disease. For instance, they offer their clients with useful educational resources and support services to enhance their ability to make proper decisions regarding their health and wellbeing. Some of these organization also help offer all patients with kidney problems to afford their healthcare expenses. The financial assistance given by this organization to the kidney patients includes insurance covers, medications, and transport costs, among other necessities required to facilitate medical treatments.

Various literature evidence support these interventions. For instance, offering financial incentives to promote access to health care services (Jan et al., 2018), facilitating testing services for early diagnosis of disease before it worsens (Romagnani et al. 2017), and providing educational and social support resources to patients (Pan et al., 2019) have all been considered suitable approaches to promote overall health and wellbeing of vulnerable members of the population.

Evaluation of Resources

Despite the availability of diverse resources to address chronic kidney disease in Texas, it is arguable that these resources have not adequately addressed the health problem of chronic kidney disease within the state. The reason for this observation is that the state continues to report very high rates of chronic kidney disease. Furthermore, Texas has a high prevalence rates of health conditions considered risk factors for chronic kidney disease. According to national statistics, it is reported that Texas contributes over 10% of the nation’s total diabetes and approximately 24% of the state population has hypertension (Johnson et al., 2019). Furthermore, it is also reported that many of the people living in Texas are not aware of their increased vulnerability to chronic kidney disease. These facts and figures highlight the existing gap in knowledge and effective interventions in the state of Texas.

Recommendations for Additional Resources

In order to enhance its ability to address chronic kidney disease, the Texan health department should increase early detection, screening, and diagnosis of this disease throughout the state. Through these means, it would be possible to discover the presence of the disease at an early stage or determine an individual’s predisposition to chronic kidney disease. This would allow for prompt delivery of appropriate healthcare interventions before the disease advances to the complex stages that are more expensive and difficult to manage.

Summary

The information presented in this assessment paper provides comprehensive insight regarding the important factors associated with the public health problem of chronic kidney disease. For instance, it highlights the prevalence and the potential effects of this disease among the adolescents. In addition to this, the assessment identifies key resources and stakeholders involved with addressing chronic kidney disease within the community. This information has significantly enhanced my knowledge and understanding of this public health problem. In this respect, I am now well-equipped to offer my patients relevant information concerning chronic kidney disease, such as its major causes, potential, effects, and useful strategies to lessen its impact. Furthermore, I am also better positioned to suggest to my patients appropriate resources that are available within their location, which will help provide them necessary assistance to manage their health problem

References

American Kidney Fund. (n.d.). Financial Assistance. American Kidney Fund. https://www.kidneyfund.org/financial-assistance/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Surveillance System. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://nccd.cdc.gov/ckd/AreYouAware.aspx?emailDate=July_2017

Dialysis Patient Citizens Education Center. (n.d.). Texas. Dialysis Patient Citizens Education Center. https://www.dpcedcenter.org/resources/state-by-state-resources/texas/  

Healthy People 2030. (n.d.). Adolescents. Healthy People 2030. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/adolescents

Jan, S., Laba, T. L., Essue, B. M., Gheorghe, A., Muhunthan, J., Engelgau, M., … & Atun, R. (2018). Action to address the household economic burden of non-communicable diseases. The Lancet, 391(10134), 2047-2058. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30323-4

Johnson, E. P., Dunn, M., Cooper, M., & Bhakta, N. (2019). Peer Reviewed: Diabetes Prevention Program Sites Compared With Diabetes Prevalence and Ratio of Primary Care Physicians in Texas. Preventing chronic disease, 16. http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd16.190175

Ozieh, M. N., Bishu, K. G., Dismuke, C. E., & Egede, L. E. (2017). Trends in healthcare expenditure in United States adults with chronic kidney disease: 2002–2011. BMC health services research, 17(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2303-3

Pan, K. C., Hung, S. Y., Chen, C. I., Lu, C. Y., Shih, M. L., & Huang, C. Y. (2019). Social support as a mediator between sleep disturbances, depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life in patients undergoing hemodialysis. PloS one, 14(4), e0216045. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216045

Romagnani, P., Remuzzi, G., Glassock, R., Levin, A., Jager, K. J., Tonelli, M., … & Anders, H. J. (2017). Chronic kidney disease. Nature reviews Disease primers, 3(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrdp.2017.88

Texas Health and Human Services. (n.d.) Kidney Health Care. Texas Health & Human Services Commission. https://hhs.texas.gov/services/health/kidney-health-care

Texas Kidney Foundation. (n.d.). About Us. Texas Kidney Foundation. https://txkidney.org/

Tjaden, L., Tong, A., Henning, P., Groothoff, J., & Craig, J. C. (2012). Children’s experiences of dialysis: a systematic review of qualitative studies. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 97(5), 395-402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2011-300639

Xiao, N., Stolfi, A., Malatesta-Muncher, R., Bholah, R., Kogon, A., Eddington, A., … & Omoloja, A. (2019). Risk Behaviors in Teens with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Study from the Midwest Pediatric Nephrology Consortium. International journal of nephrology, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/7828406

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