On World Kidney Day, March 11, 2011, the Nephrology Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), held a conference to highlight the objectives of the day regarding undetected but ongoing kidney diseases.

The presentations included Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD) Epidemiology (by Dr. Mitra Mahdavi, the conference secretary), the Experience of the First Kidney Biopsy in Iran (by Dr. Moslem Bahadori, the head of TUMS Alumni Office), the Adverse Effects of Kidney and Cardiovascular Diseases on each other (by Dr. Mahboub Lessan-pezeshki), CKD Case Finding (Dr. Mansour Gatmiri, the center's deputy for education), Diabetes and Chronic Renal Failure (by Fariba Samadian) and Non-traditional Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Diseases (by Dr. Soheila Samadian).

In an interview the head of the research center said "the kidneys and the heart have a close relationship and many cardiovascular diseases have deleterious effects on the kidneys, e.g. heart failure, but nowadays there is more emphasis on chronic renal failure or any other kidney disorder which could predispose the heart to some morbidities and ensuing moralities".

Dr. Lessan-pezeshki added that chronic renal failure in different diseases could be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and if diagnosed and treated early cardiovascular complications could be prevented significantly. He also counted death from cardiovascular disease as the main source of mortality, as much as 60%, in patients with chronic renal failure. The situation might look much grimmer in cases with previously established heart disease or their sudden onset.

To prevent chronic kidney diseases, Dr. Lessan-pezeshki recommendation regular visits to nephrology specialists as kidney disorders do not always manifest with flank pain, especially in people with diabetes, hypertension, or relevant congenital diseases, or family history of renal stone, or edema in the extremities or sudden changes in the urine color. The evaluations might include some simple lab tests.

The center's deputy for education, Dr. Gatmiri, also emphasized on the need to highlight the objectives of the World Health Day by sharing the information with the public, medical sciences and allied professions, managers and policy makers. He then talked about the dangers kidney diseases could pose to people as 90% of people with the disease would not be aware of its presence, and in fact the prevalence of chronic renal diseases is 10-15% in different populations. He also cautioned patients with diabetes and hypertension to be more vigilant as they are respectively the cause of 35-50% and 27-30% of chronic renal failures.

Dr. Gatmiri said prevention was easy and it included a simple urine or blood test. In patients with hypertension the tests should be done once at the onset of the disease and every three years afterwards. Reduction of weight in obese patients or cessation of smoking in smokers and replacing a nephrotoxic medicine by a non-nephrotoxic one could be of help to reduce the risks.