Public Health Approaches to Chronic Kidney Disease Prevention: Modifiable Risks, Early Intervention, and Equitable Access to Care

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevention research has become a critical focus within population and life-course epidemiology, as kidney health is shaped by a complex network of exposures that accumulate from early life to old age. Growing evidence shows that prenatal conditions, childhood nutrition, and developmental origins of health profoundly influence renal function trajectories, while occupational hazards, environmental toxins, metabolic dysregulation, and social adversity further alter risk across adulthood. Despite substantial progress in understanding metabolic and clinical determinants such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, CKD remains persistently underdiagnosed and unevenly distributed across populations. Recent multi-country cohort and registry studies have illuminated how contextual socioeconomic factors, environmental exposures, and structural inequities jointly contribute to disease burden and progression. However, translating this multifactorial understanding into life-course-based public health action remains limited, particularly in addressing the interplay between biological and social drivers and their cumulative effects on kidney health.

This Research Topic aims to strengthen population-level and life-course approaches to CKD prevention by deepening understanding of modifiable risk factors and social determinants of kidney health. It seeks research that investigates how exposures—ranging from in utero and early childhood conditions to adult occupational, metabolic, and environmental challenges—combine with socioeconomic gradients and genetic predispositions to influence renal outcomes. The overarching objective is to generate evidence that guides the design of equitable prevention, screening, and early intervention policies. Submissions integrating epidemiological, clinical, behavioral, and policy perspectives are encouraged, as are studies using advanced statistical modeling, life-course frameworks, and real-world or registry data to assess cumulative exposures and their impact on kidney health equity worldwide.

To gather further insights into life-course determinants, population-level prevention, and equitable access to care, this Research Topic welcomes manuscripts within the bounds of public health, life-course epidemiology, and health equity. Contributions may include original research, systematic reviews, perspectives, and policy analyses addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

- Cumulative and modifiable exposures across the life course—prenatal, childhood, occupational, environmental, metabolic, and behavioral—in relation to CKD risk and progression
- Population-level screening and early detection strategies, especially for individuals in high-risk or socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts
- The role of social and structural determinants of health, including income, education, occupation, and geography, in disease onset, diagnosis, and management
- Integration of lessons from rare kidney diseases and renal secondary hypertension into broader prevention frameworks and life-course models
- Statistical and epidemiological approaches for assessing the interplay of multiple determinants and their cumulative effects on kidney health across time
- Registry-based, cohort-based, and real-world evidence that supports equitable surveillance, prevention, and health policy implementation for CKD