Diabetes, obesity and the Kidney

Chronic kidney disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the EU.

About 10-15% of the EU population has chronic kidney disease (CKD) and this number is expected to increase in the future decades.

Diabetes is today the main cause of CKD in the EU: about, 30% of the cases with dialysis treatment in the EU have diabetes. Also, we are facing a pandemic of overweight and obesity in the EU.

Overweight and obesity are increasing at a rapid rate in most of the EU Member States, with estimates indicating that of 52.7 % of the adult (aged 18 and over) EU’s population had overweight. Of relevance, obese patients with metabolic syndrome are at risk for developing renal disease.

Understanding this topic may help preventing renal disease and offering a better treatment to renal patients The study of the renal consequences of diabetes and obesity is a major goal of the chronic renal diseases research group of Instituto de Tecnologías Biomédicas, (University of La Laguna), a research centre created 10-years ago in Canarias Island, an outermost region of the EU.

The group has experience in clinical and basic research in this particular area of knowledge with previous studies in basic and clinical research in obesity, diabetes and renal disease, however to advance in our research and become a reference leader in this field, we need to increase our research capability as well as our visibility and networking.

For it, we contacted with our partners- two leading institutions in Denmark and Norway- to help us in giving that step ahead and become a reference leader in this field.

We foresee to grow to a sustainable structure that will allow us to increaser our research capability , participate and coordinate HE proposals, besides improving our relation with Pharma Industry and pave the way for the creation of a Renal Function Laboratory, that will foster our research in the field as well providing services other researchers, groups and the Pharma Industry in EU.