Original broadcast date: March 22, 2009

Many people have heard the message that high blood pressure and diabetes can lead to heart disease and stroke. It is one of the first associations that come to mind. There is another organ that can be severely affected whose functional decline can be gradual and unnoticed. As with many chronic diseases, once it becomes critically damaged, additional serious health consequences snowball.

The organ in question is the kidney. The Kidney Foundation of Canada is highlighting Chronic Kidney Disease and the importance of high blood pressure and diabetes as key factors in placing Canadians at greater risk of developing this commonly progressive, yet often treatable, disease.

Joining us today to discuss Chronic Kidney Disease,

• Dr. David Mendelssohn,  Chief and physician director of the Department of Nephrology at Humber River Regional Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto.