After the success of the two previous editions, the III Edition of the World Kidney Day Run was held on March 10, 2024, a solidarity event whose proceeds are donated to ALCER for the benefit of patients with kidney disease. The event was once again a success in terms of attendance, with a total of 380 registered runners who completed the 5 km course in Madrid, in addition to 59 people who completed the distance remotely with the support of the official application. This data confirms the good reception of the race in successive editions, despite the adverse weather conditions this year.

Among the activities aimed at increasing social awareness of health and kidney disease, there have been several interventions in the written and audiovisual media. Specifically, we recorded 191 publications in traditional press, digital, television and radio, with an equivalent advertising value (estimation of the magnitude of appearance in the press comparing the extent of coverage with the same cost for each medium) of 658,150.00 €.

For the first time, the SEN has opened a social media account, on the social network Instagram, a medium that is increasingly used for the dissemination of content. In addition, it has collaborated with several creators of healthcare content with high impact on social networks (@boticariagarcia, @farmaenfurecida, @mienfermerafavorita), who gave voice to kidney health for all their followers. These actions have reached more than 100,000 Instagram accounts.

A photography contest has also been organized on social networks with wide participation. Three new podcasts have been published on topics related to the WKD and kidney health ("Salud renal para todos"-"Kidney health for all", "Hemodomi, ilusión para el paciente renal"-“Home dialysis, excitement for kidney patients” and "La importancia del deporte en la ERC"-“The importance of sports in CKD”).6 Finally, ONCE (a non-profit organization for the social inclusion of people with disabilities) issued its March 14 daily lottery ticket with the WKD logo, the SEN logo and the slogan ("Salud renal para todos”-"Kidney health for all").

On March 13, 2024, the event "Test your Kidney Health" was held at the National Congress of Deputies. This was done to increase awareness of the impact of CKD in the population, information leaflets were distributed to all those who attended the event and they were offered screening for arterial hypertension (HTN) and CKD. The measurement of blood pressure (BP) was performed using DBP-1307 blood pressure monitor (Aposan®, Madrid, Spain) validated by the European Society of Hypertension (ESH). For the estimation of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), capillary blood creatinine was assessed using the Nova Max Pro® Creat-eGFR portable meter (Nova Biomedical®, Waltha, USA), which calculates eGFR with the CKD-EPI 2021 formula with a sensitivity of 98.9% and a specificity of 85.3%.7

Some 355 male and female workers of the Congress of Deputies, of whom 190 (53.5%) were women, participated (Table 1). The mean age was 50.55 ± 11.23 years, with 203 of the attendees (57.1%) over 50 years of age. A total of 45 attendees (12.7%) presented an eGFR less than 60 mL/min, including one person with an eGFR less than 30 mL/min (Fig. 1). The prevalence figures of CKD, considered as a GFR < 60 mL/min, coincide with those published in the latest epidemiological studies.8,9

Fig. 1.

Correlation between age and eGFR (A) and between age and blood pressure levels compatible with hypertension (B) among the workers of the Congress of Deputies who attended the Kidney Health Day.

eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; HT, hypertension.

(0.26MB).

In addition, blood pressure was measured in 325 attendees (91.5%). Of these, 94 people (26.6%) had values of BP figures in the HTN range with a mean systolic BP of 151.78 ± 14.90 and 84.53 ± 11.85 mmHg of diastolic BP (Fig. 1). Seven people (2.15%) presented grade 3 HTN (≥180/110 mmHg). In addition, another 81 people (22.8%) presented values of BP in the normal-high range (130–139/85−89 mmHg) according to the classification of the latest ESH guidelines.10

The limitations of the screening program include the following: some participants were already diagnosed with CKD and/or HTN; blood pressure was not measured under optimal conditions of a relaxed environment with three subsequent measurements; the method used for GFR estimation is for screening and has higher variability than laboratory measurement, and furthermore, albuminuria was not measured, so the rate of CKD may have been underestimated.

In any case, this day served to raise awareness among politicians, managers, officials and collaborators about the importance of early diagnosis of CKD, in addition to reinforcing to the spokespersons of the different political groups of the Health Commission the need to implement specific kidney health policies at the national and regional levels.

In addition, as usual, on March 14, an official event was held at the Ministry of Health, with representation from the SEN, SEDEN and ALCER and the presence of political delegates. During the event, the epidemiological impact of kidney disease was emphasized, as well as the measures that need to be promoted by the health administrations and the need to implement measures to guarantee equity in kidney health among the entire national population, in line with the slogan of WKD 2024.

With the help of the material sent from the SEN, many nephrology services, dialysis centers and health professionals, collectively or individually, developed local and regional actions to collaborate in the aims of WKD.11 Social networks have been filled with references and photographs on the importance of knowing about how kidneys work, the early diagnosis of kidney disease and the prognostic implications of its progression.