Awareness about kidney and its related function/dysfunction in school going children: A survey from the Central India

In the absence of a national registry, the exact incidence and burden of chronic kidney disease in children in India is not known. The most common diagnosis for which children are likely to see a pediatric nephrologist is nephrotic syndrome constituting almost 40% of cases. Considering all the renal manifestations in the pediatric age group, we designed simply survey to find out the awareness among school going children about the kidney's function and dysfunction in our Indian scenario. More than 95% of children knew that normally humans have two kidneys. Around 50% of school children on an average were not aware of normal location of their kidneys. About 60%-75% of school going children was unaware of all the functions of a normal kidney. More than half of school children had no idea that even one normal kidney was sufficient to lead a normal life. Again more than half of the participant children were unaware of the basic symptoms of the kidney failure. Around 8%-9% of students reported a positive family history of kidney disease in their family. Pediatric population, especially the school going students should be educated from their early years about the basics of any vital organ like the kidney. Here, in the present study, we found that there is the scope of improvement in making children aware of normal functions of a kidney and the abnormalities that occur when the kidneys are malfunctioning. Early diagnosis will lead to reduced kidney-related morbidity and mortality.