Global dimensions of chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu); a comparison study

Abstract

The form of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) with a lacking known cause of origin unlike most other forms is said to be CKD of Unknown aetiology (CKDu). This condition has been often reported from tropical and subtropical countries around the world, specially, including Asian countries like Japan from where CKDu was first reported; and shows a growing risk of spreading around the world. Due to the absence of early signs and symptoms, CKDu is not diagnosed up until it reaches an irreversible state. Researches are being carried out to find the aetiology of the disease to help patients with better prognosis. Those have been able to put forward several hypotheses including hot climate, agricultural economy, hard water, heavy metals, microbial toxins, infectious diseases and genetic predisposition as the CKDu causatives. Also these researches have paved to identify more similarities and few differences between the CKDu cases reported from different countries. With the main aim to identify the epidemiology of CKDu in Asia, this article has been written with the intension of looking the similarities and differences of CKDu found in Asian countries. Already published primary and review articles have been studied and summarized in this article to present a review on epidemiology of CKDu in Asia.