Environmental risk factors for reduced kidney function due to undetermined cause in India: an environmental epidemiologic analysis.

Background: An epidemic of chronic kidney disease is occurring in rural communities in low-income and middle-income countries that do not share common kidney disease risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension. This chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology occurs primarily in agricultural communities in Central America and South Asia. Consequently, environmental risk factors including heat stress, heavy metals exposure, and low altitude have been hypothesized as risk factors.

Prevalence and risk factors for chronic kidney disease of unknown cause in Malawi: a cross-sectional analysis in a rural and urban population.

Background: An epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown cause (CKDu) is occurring in rural communities in tropical regions of low-and middle-income countries in South America and India. Little information is available from Southern African countries which have similar climatic and occupational characteristics to CKDu-endemic countries. We investigated whether CKDu is prevalent in Malawi and identified its potential risk factors in this setting.