Globally, it is recognised that health and care systems are undergoing transformative change to adapt to the needs of patients and communities, with increasing pressure to be financially, socially and environmentally sustainable. Appraising the sustainability of care pathways is seen as a crucial step to enabling a more sustainable health system.
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a disease that causes progressive extensive damage to patients’ kidneys over a prolonged period, inhibiting normal blood filtration and allowing the accumulation of waste within the body and the treatment of it has a significant global warming impact. This study by AstraZeneca estimates the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) associated with the treatment of CKD and examines the potential to reduce the associated healthcare resource and environmental burden through use of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors to control the progression of the disease.
The analysis by AstraZeneca, using the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition’s care pathway assessment guidance, illustrates that interventions aimed at controlling progression to the most impactful, later stages of disease can reduce the GHG impact of CKD care in the UK by reducing the need for intensive primary and secondary care interventions later in the care pathway.
Understanding and apprising the GHG impact associated with the management and treatment of CKD are important steps towards a more sustainable treatment paradigm for this debilitating condition.
Environmental impact of the care pathway for chronic kidney disease in the UK