Diabetes is prevalent worldwide and represents and EPIDEMIC in the US:

  • According to the CDC, diabetes affected 11.3% (~25.6 Million) of the U.S. population age 20 or older in 2010, with about 1.9 million people being newly diagnosed each year.
  • In 2005–2008, based on fasting glucose or hemoglobin A1C levels, 35% of U.S. adults aged 20 years or older had pre-diabetes (metabolic syndrome).

T2DN is a kidney disease that affects individuals with diabetes. The number of individuals with diabetes is rising. An epidemiologic study published by Wild et al., titled Global Prevalence of Diabetes (Diabeters Care; Vol. 27, No. 5, May 2004), studied and estimated the number of individuals with diabetes in the year 2000 and 2030. The total number of adults 20 years of age or older with diabetes is projected to rise from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030. The number of individuals with diabetes who develop diabetic kidney disease is established to be between 30 and 40%. More recently, studies have predicted that “the global diabetes prevalence in 2019 is estimated to be 9.3% (463 million people) rising to 10.2% (578 million) by 2030 and 10.9% (700 million) by 2045”. Interpreted together these reports suggest an oncoming crisis of chronic kidney disease associated with rising numbers of individuals with diabetes.

T2DN affects the kidneys’ ability to do their usual work of removing waste products and extra fluid from the body. T2DN is a large unmet medical disease. Diabetic nephropathy affects approximately 12 million US citizens and an estimated 170 million individuals worldwide. Approximately half of all chronic kidney disease and kidney failure has been attributed to diabetic complications. Diabetic kidney disease is associated with high blood pressure, insulin resistance, high uric acid levels, proteinuria, cardiovascular disease and decreasing filtering capacity of kidneys. Similarly, high SUA concentration has been reported to be an independent risk factor for progressing kidney disease in these patients, and is associated with increased blood pressure, systemic inflammation, cardiovascular injury, endothelial dysfunction and progressing kidney disease.

Over many years, diabetes in some individuals slowly damages the kidneys’ filtering system, and can progress to kidney failure. ESRD, which occurs when kidneys are no longer capable of filtering blood to remove metabolic waste products and uric acid, is the final stage of chronic kidney disease, and can be fatal. At that stage, the treatment options are either dialysis (the mechanical filtering of blood), or a kidney transplant.