Kidney diseases have become a major global public health problem. Contemporary populations are exposed to a constellation of clinical risk factors, acting together with macroeconomic, social, environmental, and structural determinants, which favour the onset and accelerate the progression of disease. Chronic kidney disease (CKD), acute kidney injury (AKI), dialysis, and kidney transplantation substantially affect survival, quality of life, and health system performance. The rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases and population ageing, against a background of unequal access to timely nephrology care, amplifies this clinical and public health burden. Moreover, the ways in which the economic, social, and environmental context intersects with the organisation of health systems decisively shape who develops kidney disease, who receives optimal treatment, and how outcomes are distributed across countries.
A growing body of evidence shows that kidney diseases are closely linked to economic and social structures, as well as to environmental and climate-related stressors. Budgetary constraints, poverty, and insufficient health-care funding limit access to screening, dialysis, and transplantation, while social gradients in education, employment, housing, and access to services shape both risk exposure and the quality of care received. Exposure to heat stress, pollution, water scarcity, and occupational hazards further amplifies vulnerability. Yet clinical research, epidemiology, health economics, and the social and environmental sciences often evolve in parallel, leaving important gaps in understanding these interactions. This Research Topic seeks to integrate clinical, epidemiological, economic, social, and environmental perspectives to elucidate these interrelations and guide health policies.
Submissions should address, without being limited to, kidney disease and transplantation within population, economic, social, environmental and clinical perspectives:
1. Economic, social and environmental determinants of kidney diseases
2. Preventing, mitigating and reducing the burden of kidney disease
3. Public policies and health system organization
4. Clinical therapies and outcomes in kidney disease
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Case Report
Classification
Clinical Trial
Community Case Study
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
General Commentary
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Article types
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Case Report
Classification
Clinical Trial
Community Case Study
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Methods
Mini Review
Opinion
Original Research
Perspective
Policy and Practice Reviews
Policy Brief
Review
Study Protocol
Systematic Review
Technology and Code
Keywords: 1. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) 2. Kidney Transplantation 3. Renal Replacement Therapy 4. Population Health and Epidemiology 5. Economic Determinants of Health 6. Social Determinants of Kidney Disease 7. Environmental and Climate-Related Risk Factors 8. H
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
