Bhubaneswar: Nearly one in four adults from Odisha’s tribal communities suffers from impaired kidney function, highlighting a significant but largely under-recognised health burden among the state’s indigenous population, a study by ICMR-National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), Bhubaneswar, has found.Published in the Oct 2026 issue of the Indian Journal of Medical Research, the study analysed health data of 19,703 adults from 53 tribal communities across 14 tribal-dominated districts of Odisha. Researchers found that 24.8% of participants had impaired kidney function, including 16.6% with mild impairment, 6.4% with moderate impairment, 1.5% with severe impairment and 0.3% with kidney failure. Besides NIHR, researchers from the George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands, were involved in the study.The prevalence rose sharply with age, from 5.6% among people aged 18-30 years to 79.4% among those above 70 years. Higher rates were also observed among men, tobacco users, alcohol consumers, people with little or no formal education, and those suffering from hypertension or diabetes.The research team, led by Sanghamitra Pati, director of ICMR-National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), used data from the Odisha Tribal Family Health Survey conducted during 2022-23. Researchers also developed machine-learning models to identify individuals at risk of kidney disease using routine demographic and health information, a tool they said could help target screening in remote tribal areas.The study found impaired kidney function was particularly common among people with uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes. It stressed the need for early detection, targeted screening and integration of kidney disease prevention with existing non-communicable disease programmes in tribal districts.Researchers identified tobacco use, alcohol consumption, poor diet diversity and poverty as key modifiable risk factors and called for stronger community-level interventions in districts facing a dual burden of kidney disease and other chronic illnesses.Calling for a shift from symptom-based treatment to preventive care, Pati said periodic screening of tribal populations for kidney disease is critical. “At present, people often receive treatment only after symptoms appear. Regular screening can help detect kidney problems early and improve treatment outcomes,” she said.She added that ICMR-NIHR has developed a point-of-care diagnostic device for urea and creatinine testing, which is currently undergoing validation. Once cleared, the device could be deployed for door-to-door screening through ASHA workers, enabling early detection in remote tribal pockets.The study is among the largest assessments of kidney health among indigenous populations in India and underscores the need for focused public health interventions in Odisha’s tribal regions.
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