Community Kidney Screening Day

BIRMINGHAM’s ASTON PRIDE COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE TARGETS AFRICANS & CARIBBEANS FOR KIDNEY RESEARCH UK’S COMMUNITY SCREENING DAY
9am-5pm, 13th September 2008

Birmingham is to host a Community Screening Day as part of Kidney Research UK’s national screening pilot for chronic kidney disease (CKD). The sessions will take place at the Aston Pride Community Health Centre, starting on the 13th September 2008 and will aim to screen up to 500 black African or Caribbean people. The Community Screening Day is part of a national pilot being conducted in association with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, sponsored by pharmaceutical companies Roche and Amgen. Siemens has also provided equipment in support of this study.

The screening pilot is being launched because CKD affects around 3 million people in the UK, many of who are unaware of the condition. Identifying the disease is easy but it often goes undetected as sufferers often display no symptoms, although people with a family history of the disease, people with high blood pressure (hypertension) or diabetes and certain ethnic groups (Black Africans, Caribbeans and South Asians) have a higher risk of developing the disease.

Early detection however can have a significant impact on patient outcomes because there are treatments that can slow down the progression of the disease, delaying the need for dialysis or transplantation.

Dr. Sam Mukherjee GP at Aston Pride says: “We’re delighted to be able to support the first screening programme of this kind in this very important pilot. We want to use this occasion to increase the awareness of the disease amongst the high-risk groups in the local community, and we would ask anyone who feels they may be at risk to come forward and be assessed. There is no substitute for early diagnosis and intervention.”

People wishing to be screened can walk in without an appointment to any of the Aston Pride sessions which will run on Saturdays. Further information can be obtained by calling the Kidney Health Information Line on 0845 300 1499. At the appointment, they will have their height, weight and blood pressure checked, and will be asked to give blood and urine samples.

Dr. Dwomoa Adu, the principal investigator for the screening pilot, comments: “Kidney disease is a silent killer and can cause a lot of suffering to individuals if left undiagnosed. If we can find sufferers in the early stages, we can manage the condition and avoid the need for dialysis and even transplantation. The way to do this is through the targeted screening of high-risk groups. That way we can identify people with CKD, before they reach a critical stage and help them to manage the condition with medication and lifestyle changes. This is the right thing to do for both the patient and the NHS.”


Further Community Screening Days are also being run in London and in Oldham, with a fourth site being investigated currently. If the programme proves successful, it could provide a model for nationwide risk assessment.

Individuals who think they may be at risk should contact their doctor or alternatively contact the Kidney Health Information Line on 0845 300 1499 or visit www.kidneyresearchuk.org