Abstract

In recent decades there have been reports of epidemics of chronic kidney disease (CKD) killing young men in Central America and South Asia. These cases do not involve the commonly known causes of CKD such as diabetes, so they are known as CKD of unknown cause (CKDu). To understand the size and extent of the problem around the world, we included data from studies that measured kidney function from 43 areas across 14 countries (60,964 people). We calculated the prevalence of poor kidney function in working-age men and women in urban and rural areas, in those without indicators of the commonly known causes of CKD. The most affected groups were rural men in Uddanam, India (14%), and Northwest Nicaragua (14%). Low prevalence (<2%) was seen in included areas outside of Central America and South Asia. These findings are important to direct future research, give clues to the possible causes of CKDu, and as a starting point for global monitoring.