NUH sees number doubling in past decade more kids also suffering from Type 2 diabetes
By Judith Tan

THE number of children treated for kidney disease at the National University Hospital (NUH) has doubled in the last 10 years, said a paediatric kidney expert yesterday.

Professor Yap Hui Kim, head of the division of paediatric nephrology, immunology and urology at the University Children's Medical Institute, said the centre now sees seven or eight new cases a year twice the number a decade ago.

Altogether the centre sees 2,000 to 3,000 children yearly who have chronic kidney disease. More than 100 have progressed to end stage kidney failure and need dialysis or a transplant. A major factor is the number of children who are now getting Type 2 diabetes, usually seen in adults, said Prof Yap.

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body either makes too little insulin or cannot use it to convert blood glucose to energy. Doctors say the main risk factor is obesity.

In adults, diabetes is one of the main causes of end stage renal failure. "This year, one child was put on dialysis because of diabetes-induced renal failure," Prof Yap said.

Chronic kidney disease in children is also caused by birth defects and other hereditary diseases.

The kidney transplant programme for children aged 11 months to 14 years was started in Singapore in 1989. Between then and 2007. NUH carried out a total of 38 renal transplants.

The growing numbers of children with chronic kidney disease are a worrying trend, said Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean yesterday, because "if left untreated, they will contribute to the national pool of patients requiring dialysis or transplant".

He was speaking at the 20th anniversary celebrations of the hospital s renal replacement programme for children.

Mr Teo said about 10 per cent of child patients with diabetes develop kidney damage, but 70 per cent of those can be resolved. The outlook for child patients now is also much better compared with 20 years ago when there were fewer facilities available, and "parents of children with kidney failure often were resigned to them dying", said Prof Yap.

"Today, with medical advancements, we are able to prolong lives by offering dialysis and transplant to all. The challenge is to help them become useful and independent in society."

Mr Teo praised the NUH programme for achieving international clinical standards and also becoming a regional centre for training in paediatric nephrology. A total of 20 doctors and two nurses from Asia have been trained since 2002.

One patient who benefited from the programme is NUH medical social worker Benjamin Png. 25.

He was diagnosed with kidney failure at 14 and had a transplant in 2002, with a donation from his cousin.

"Having the disease and then the transplant shaped my life's direction. I decided to return to NUH to help other kidney patients," he said.

Each year, more than 1,000 people in Singapore lose the use of their kidneys. The average waiting time for a kidney from a dead donor is nine years, but more than a third of those on dialysis die within the first year.