The English version of the report has been published. (December 18, 2024)

In 2022, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) launched the “Kidney Disease Control Promotion Project” and formed a public-private-academic-civic advisory board. HGPI held meetings advocating for the importance of CKD prevention and early intervention, the significance of multidisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration, the need to expand successful local government initiatives, and the promotion of kidney disease strategies based on patient and stakeholder perspectives.

CKD is a disease that also affects the working-age population. Given that there are individuals with CKD, those at high risk, and those undergoing dialysis within the working-age population, HGPI recognizes the need to more clearly understand the current challenges in kidney disease measures and to consider practical CKD control measures and their scope for the working-age population.

This time, HGPI has compiled proposals to strengthen CKD control withing the working-age population based on interviews with experts in industry, government, academia, and civil society and thorough investigation of previous discussions.

HGPI has compiled the following two recommendations as a way of strengthening measures against　CKD control within the working-age population based on detailed interviews with experts in industry, government, academia, and civil society and thorough investigation of previous discussions.

Recommendation 1: Strengthen CKD screening conducted as part of routine health checkups for workers.

• Proteinuria screening in workers should be strengthened for the early detection of CKD and people at risk of CKD, and serum creatinine testing should be performed in people with underlying diseases like diabetes or hypertension to thoroughly evaluate kidney function.
• While taking into account the fact that there is variation in proteinuria and abnormal serum creatinine levels among individuals, criteria should be defined in a manner that anyone who undergoes screening can be connected to healthcare at the time that is right for them, and further consideration should be given to expanding the scope of serum creatinine testing.
• After considering how to make the best use of health checkup results, a system should be built that smoothly guides people who need treatment to healthcare so their conditions can be managed on an ongoing basis.
  
  

Recommendation 2: Strengthen efforts to provide recommendations for medical examination and health guidance to people identified as being at risk for CKD during screening.

• Utilizing workers’ time-oriented medical examination data, employers, insurers, and primary care physicians should collaborate to effectively provide recommendations for medical examination and health guidance.
• Various actions should be taken to increase the likelihood that workers will seek medical consultations and begin treatment. Employers should select nearby clinics to partner with. Systems should be established for smooth collaboration among physicians who perform detailed medical examinations and industrial physicians or employers. Systems should also be established to educate health professionals and provide follow-up to ensure that people who receive medical examinations are guided to treatment.
• With close collaboration among specialists in kidney diseases, epidemiology, and public health, more robust evidence on items such as real-world circumstances surrounding CKD among workers and the significance of early screening should be generated.

Furthermore, the latter half of this recommendation paper presents HGPI’s perspective and understanding of previous policy discussions on this topic, as well as our outlook for future policy development. For more details, please review the PDF file at the end of this document.