If you’ve ever wondered why some people are more likely to develop chronic kidney disease (CKD) than others, the answer goes beyond concurrent medical issues like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Your risk may be influenced by things you can’t always control—like where you live, what resources are available, and how society has historically treated your community. Learning about these social and environmental factors can help you better understand your health risks and advocate for the support you need.

Your Surroundings Shape Your Health

You might think health is mostly about medical checkups and eating right—and those are definitely factors—but it’s also about whether you:

• Can find and afford healthy foods like fresh produce,
• Have a safe place to live both indoors and outdoors, 
• Can access convenient, reliable transportation, 
• Have air and water relatively free of pollution, and 
• Can reach clinics or other health resources in a timely manner.

These are just a few of what are called social determinants of health (SDoH), and they influence your chances of developing serious conditions like CKD, regardless of whatever good personal habits you may practice, like not smoking.

Barriers Make CKD Harder to Detect and Manage

You might not feel sick in the early stages of CKD, which makes it easy to miss unless you’re regularly tested. But if you don’t have transportation, health insurance, or a regular doctor, those tests may be out of reach. When problems go undetected, they grow more serious and harder to treat. For example, if you’re pregnant and can’t get prenatal care, you risk complications like eclampsia, which can damage your kidneys for life. This is why access to care matters so much.

It’s Not About Biological Race—It’s About Inequality

If you identify as Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, Asian, or Pacific Islander, you may have heard that your risk for CKD is higher. While genetics and biology can influence your risk of certain medical conditions, in the United States race by itself isn’t at fault. 

One of the most serious problems is how systemic racial and ethnic inequities have limited access to housing, jobs, healthcare, and education for generations. These barriers didn’t appear overnight, and fixing them is rarely easy. Still, sharing knowledge, forming community partnerships, advocating for new legislation on all levels, and lifting each other up can help everyone live healthier, longer lives.

*National Kidney Foundation. (2023, January 2). Social Determinants of Health and Chronic Kidney Disease. https://www.kidney.org/kidney-topics/social-determinants-health-and-chronic-kidney-disease#:~ 

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