Abuse of painkillers is silently driving the rising cases of kidney failure among Nigerians, seasoned kidney care experts have said.
They explained that many commonly used analgesics, when taken frequently or in excessive doses without medical supervision, can gradually damage the kidneys and impair their ability to function properly.
The nephrologists, who spoke exclusively with PUNCH Healthwise, explained that the trend is being worsened by easy access to over-the-counter drugs and the tendency of many Nigerians to rely on pain relievers for routine discomfort.
The American Kidney Fund, a nonprofit organisation, explained that kidney failure, also known as end-stage renal disease or end-stage kidney disease, is the final stage of chronic kidney disease.
It is a condition where one or both kidneys can no longer effectively filter waste and excess fluid from the blood.
It noted that kidney failure cannot be reversed and is life-threatening if left untreated, but that dialysis or a kidney transplant can help a person with the disease to live for many more years.
Data from the Nigerian Association of Nephrology shows that over 20 million Nigerians have kidney diseases, with 20,000 of them progressing to end-stage kidney disease yearly, requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation.
Before now, experts have identified the trio of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and glomerulonephritis as major causes of kidney failure.
Worryingly, nephrologists have now found that the abuse of painkillers is also adding to the burden of kidney failure in the country.
Speaking on the situation, the President of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology, Prof Jacob Awobusuyi, said the abuse of painkillers like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was silently fueling kidney failure in Nigeria.
He listed Nigerians who engage in hard labour as some of the people who regularly abuse unprescribed painkillers.
This set of people, he said, takes several painkillers just to keep going, adding that prolonged practice of such leads to kidney failures.
“Yes, abuse of painkillers is contributing to these cases of kidney failure. Because if you look at the population of manual labourers, danfo and truck drivers, those who engage in work that drains them physically, at the end of the day, many of them tend to take a lot of unprescribed painkillers.
“And they don’t take just one type; they tend to combine them, which is really dangerous. So, some of those people end up developing kidney failure, which we call analgesic nephropathy.
“So abuse of painkillers is contributing to kidney failure in Nigeria, especially among those people who are in the habit of taking different painkillers regularly. So, it is contributing, but the magnitude of the contribution is what we cannot definitely say,” the nephrologist said.
Awobusuyi, who is a member of the International Society of Nephrology’s African Regional Board, explained that about 10 per cent of the adult population in Nigeria has kidney disease, with some progressing to kidney failure.
“If we take the number of people, like the percentage of people who have kidney disease in Nigeria, we believe that about 10 percent of the adult population in Nigeria has kidney disease. Many of them are not yet in kidney failure, per se.
“But kidney disease worsens over time, and quite a number of people with kidney disease don’t even catch them at the early stage, and it eventually ends up in kidney failure,” the don said.
Awobusuyi, who also doubles as the President of the Transplant Association of Nigeria, noted that the burden of kidney failure from abuse of drugs is worsened by those who combine several painkillers at a single use.
“Judging from the way people just take pain relievers haphazardly, we believe it is contributing to kidney failure in the country. If you look at the group of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs — NSAIDs — there are quite a number of them, and many of them are available over the counter.
“Some people take them regularly, especially those who even combine several of them. Some combine as many as four different pain-relieving tablets in a single use. And they call it a combination, ‘akanpo’ in the Yoruba language. These practice makes users prone to developing kidney disease, which may later progress to end-stage kidney disease, which is commonly known as kidney failure,” he said.
To curb the trend, Awobusuyi, who is a professor of medicine and consultant nephrologist at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, advised Nigerians against using unprescribed painkillers.
When experiencing pain or discomfort, he said Nigerians should go to a proper health facility and allow doctors to investigate the cause of the pain and guide them appropriately.
According to him, attacking all forms of pain with over-the-counter drugs regularly can be fatal.
“It is not right, because many things can cause pain, including headaches that people experience more often. People should desist from abusing painkillers anyhow, and they need to actually seek medical help when they’re experiencing pain.
“People should refrain from the habit of just going to the pharmacy to buy painkillers without being prescribed by a doctor. It is not good for their health, and invariably, they can develop side effects of those drugs, and one of them is kidney failure,” he said.
Credit: healthwise.punchng.com
