World Kidney Day 2013: Acute Kidney Injury; a Public Health Aware

Once again we reached to March 14, the World Kidney Day. The 8 World Kidney Day (WKD) on March 14, 2013, will be celebrated (1-3). This day is a yearly event prearranged both by the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (1,2). In this year, the WKD committee aimed to aware the worldwide increase in acute kidney injury (AKI) in both developed and developing countries (4). AKI is characterized by sudden decrease in renal function by decrease in glomerular filtration rate(GFR) ,followed by accumulation of nitrogenous waste products and the inability to maintain fluid and electrolyte homeostasis(5-7), which usually accompanied by decrease in urine output and various clinical presentations, that is highly linked to increased early and long term mortality and morbidity of the patients. Importantly also, there is a risk of the development of chronic renal failure subsequently (5-7). Despite progress in the understanding of pathogenesis of acute renal dysfunction, we only have a blurred opinion as to why renal function deteriorates so dramatically in many patients with acute illness or injury, or why, despite kidney replacement therapy, mortality is so high(8,9). Since the incidence of AKI has been rising over time, alongside, the prevalence of chronic renal failure has also been increasing. While AKI has long been considered of as a completely reversible disease, however, over the past several years, a bulk of data from experimental animals and humans have been published and pointed out that, AKI more than likely leads to permanent renal damage as chronic renal failure (10,11). On the other hand, the proportion of patients existing after AKI has also been increasing over time (4,10,11). Thus, if AKI really increase the risk for chronic renal failure, then it could imply significant public health concerns with regard to the proportion of persons developing incident chronic renal failure, progressive chronic renal failure, end-stage renal disease (ESRD) (4,10,11).The reasons why AKI would increase the risk of chronic renal failure, end-stage renal disease, and other adverse outcomes not yet fully understood. Various animal investigations suggest that AKI can induce glomerular and interstitial fibrosis (12-17). Hence, despite the fact that AKI is typically reversible in nature, however there may be subclinical kidney damage that persists and mediates this outcomem(12-17). Hence, there an international health strategy is necessary to reduce the huge growing load of AKI and its complications. Indeed efforts should focused on preventing AKI accompanied by early detection and treatment, and enough follow up to decrease the mortality and the long term incidence of post –AKI chronic renal failure (4,18,19).AKI is described by one of the followings: increase in serum creatinine to ≥1.5 times baseline or increase in serum creatinine by ≥0.3 mg/dl during 48 hours; or, which is known or presumed to have occurred during the prior 7 days; or urine volume <0.5 ml/kg/h for 6 hours (4,6). Early examination