Chronic Kidney Disease Helper

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), a condition characterized by a gradual loss of kidney function over time, is one of the silent killers of this century, next to cancer. Many healthcare reports around the globe indicate that the number of patients having CKD and End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) are alarmingly increasing in recent years. According to 2019 annual report by USRDS [17] , "the prevalence of recognized CKD has steadily risen each year, accompanied by a comparable increase in the percentage of patients with a stage-specific CKD diagnosis code." In particular, the proportion of Medicare patients in the United States with CKD has risen from 13.8% in 2016 to 14.5% in 2017. On December 31, 2017, there were 746,557 prevalent cases of ESRD in the United States; this represents an increase of 2.6% since 2016, and of 91.1% since 2000 [17] . In its latest news on March 04, 2020 [11] , the National Kidney Foundation in the United States mentioned that one in three Americans (or 33%) are at risk of developing life-threatening kidney disease. More than 10% of world population is impacted by CKD; for example, CKD prevalence in Saudi Arabia and Belgium is estimated to be 24%; in UK and Singapore, it is estimated to be 16% [1] .