Chronic kidney disease is affecting younger people and is on the rise.

In recent years, the number of patients with chronic kidney disease in Vietnam has been increasing and is tending to affect younger people.

Alarmingly, the majority of severe kidney failure cases requiring dialysis stem from the habit of self-medicating with drugs of unknown origin, especially traditional Chinese medicine and herbal remedies that are widely advertised online or passed down through word of mouth.

In Vietnam, the prevalence of chronic kidney disease is 12.8% of the adult population, with more than 8.7 million people suffering from the disease.

According to statistics from the Artificial Kidney Department of Cho Ray Hospital (Ho Chi Minh City), there are currently between 400 and 500 patients undergoing regular dialysis treatment.

Each day, the unit receives an average of 60 to 70 cases requiring emergency hemodialysis. Dr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, Head of the Hemodialysis Department, said that the number of patients with end-stage chronic kidney disease is increasing rapidly and showing a clear trend of younger patients.

In particular, there is an increasing number of cases arriving at hospitals with severe kidney failure, requiring emergency dialysis due to the use of unverified medications, mainly those advertised online with promises of "reducing kidney disease".

"Chronic kidney disease has five stages. Instead of receiving proper treatment in stage 3 or 4, many patients believe misleading advertisements and self-medicate with herbal remedies or traditional Chinese medicine. As a result, the disease quickly progresses to the final stage, even becoming life-threatening," Dr. Tuan warned.

Sharing the same view, MSc. Dr. Chau Thi Kim Lien, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Nephrology Association, emphasized that chronic kidney disease is becoming a global health problem, affecting approximately 10-13% of the world's population, equivalent to 800-850 million people.

In Vietnam, this rate is 12.8% of the adult population, with over 8.7 million people suffering from the disease. Dr. Lien stated that the causes of chronic kidney disease are diverse, including infections, exposure to toxic chemicals, underlying conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, and especially the misuse of medication.

Some people, even for common aches and pains, frequently use over-the-counter painkillers or self-medicate with traditional Vietnamese or Chinese herbal remedies.

These habits, repeated over a long period, can be toxic to the kidneys, leading to irreversible kidney failure. She also stated that in over 30 years of practice, she has encountered many cases of severe kidney failure due to the use of unverified medications, causing serious damage that could not be treated in time.

One of the biggest challenges in treating chronic kidney disease is selecting and using safe medications for patients with impaired kidney function.

At the 2025 Southern Region Pharmacovigilance Conference, organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Drug Information and Adverse Reactions in collaboration with Cho Ray Hospital, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Binh, Deputy Director of Cho Ray Hospital, emphasized the crucial role of pharmacovigilance and clinical pharmacy in the treatment of chronic kidney disease. He stated that in the treatment of kidney disease, especially in patients who use multiple medications, monitoring for adverse reactions is extremely important to minimize risks.

In this context, choosing an effective and safe alternative kidney treatment is also a crucial factor. For patients with end-stage chronic kidney disease, when the kidney's filtering function has been completely lost, options include hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or kidney transplantation. Of these, hemodialysis is the most common method in Vietnam due to its feasibility and reasonable cost.

However, for hemodialysis to be effective, patients need a stable "vascular access point." Without a sufficiently large and safe blood flow pathway, the dialysis process cannot take place, and may even threaten the patient's life.

Currently, there are three main vascular access routes: central venous catheter (CVC), autologous arteriovenous fistula (AVF), and artificial graft graft (AVG). Of these, AVF is considered the preferred option due to its fewer complications, low infection rate, lower long-term treatment costs, and high efficacy.

At the 4th National Scientific Conference of the Vietnam Vascular Disease Association, the issue of "vascular access" was discussed in depth for the first time at an international scale. People's Physician, Associate Professor, Doctor of Medicine, Specialist II Nguyen Huu Uoc, President of the Association, stated that early AVF creation is the top recommended treatment strategy in international guidelines.

A new study published in the journal Medicina shows that patients using AVF had a 7-year survival rate of 65.5%, compared to 26.4% for the group using an embedded catheter and only 11% for a conventional catheter. The risk of death was 2.8 times higher with an embedded catheter and 5 times higher with a conventional catheter compared to AVF.

Clinical practice shows that over 80% of patients in Vietnam begin dialysis without long-term vascular access, requiring the use of temporary catheters.

Experts emphasize that, to improve the quality of life and treatment effectiveness, Vietnam needs to invest systematically in the kidney disease patient care system, especially in the technical infrastructure for creating and maintaining vascular access. This should be coupled with strengthening human resource training, standardizing needle aspiration procedures, using medications safely, and enhancing international research cooperation.

To address this situation, a comprehensive strategy is needed, ranging from raising public awareness and warning about the dangers of unregulated medications to investing in healthcare infrastructure and individualizing treatment. Most importantly, patients must trust and adhere to their doctors' instructions, avoiding risky choices with potentially irreversible consequences.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/suy-than-man-tre-hoa-va-gia-tang-d305530.html