Vijayawada: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan has engaged a team of doctors, researchers and intellectuals to study the root cause of kidney disease and its impact on people of the Uddanam area in Srikakulam district.
Mr Pawan has been interacting with nephrologists from abroad, trying to amass details regarding the prevalence of kidney disease in certain pockets of the world. The presence of silica in groundwater is not the sole cause of renal ailments, according to researchers, and the Jana Sena chief is keen on getting to the root cause of the disease, an associate of his said.
Mr Pawan has also spoken to researchers in the US who are working on the occurrence and spread of kidney disease among young Central American agricultural workers.
As per a paper published in the National Kidney Foundation’s American Journal of Kidney Diseases, has stated that heat stress and volume depletion are said to be the key reasons behind kidney diseases.
After going through the observations of Dr Rebecca Laws, a Postdoctoral Associate at Boston University School of Public Health and lead author on the study, Mr Kalyan felt that an in-depth study into the issue was in the best interests of public health.
According to Rebecca Laws, most researchers believe the causes are multi-factorial, and they are at least in part related to occupation, given the severe toll that kidney disease is taking on heavy manual labourers in that region.
These individuals have physically strenuous jobs in a high-heat environment. She also observed that electrolyte supplementation appeared to reduce the risk of kidney damage in these workers.
Researchers also observed a protective effect of consuming an electrolyte solution among cane-cutters and seed-cutters. This indicates that there are ways in which to kidney injury and damage can be prevented among labourers.
The Director of Scientific Studies at the National Kidney Foundation, Dr Thomas Manley, has stated that he hopes this study will pave the way for further research on the impact of hydration status on the progression of kidney disease.
