III 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 546 

Supporting the goals and ideals of a National Polycystic Kidney Disease 

Awareness Week to raise public awareness and understanding of polycystic kidney disease and to foster understanding of the impact polycystic 

kidney disease has on patients and future generations of their families. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2006 

Mr. DEWINE submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideals of a National Polycystic 

Kidney Disease Awareness Week to raise public awareness and understanding of polycystic kidney disease and 

to foster understanding of the impact polycystic kidney 

disease has on patients and future generations of their 

families. 

Whereas polycystic kidney disease (known as ‘‘PKD’’) is the 

most prevalent life-threatening genetic disease in the 

United States, is a severe, dominantly inherited disease 

that has a devastating impact, in both human and economic terms, on people of all ages, and affects equally 

people of all races, sexes, nationalities, geographic locations, and income levels; 


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Whereas, based on prevalence estimates by the National Institutes of Health, it is estimated that about 600,000 patients in the United States have a genetic inheritance 

from 1 or both parents called polycystic kidney disease, 

and that countless additional friends, loved ones, spouses, 

and caregivers must shoulder the physical, emotional, and 

financial burdens that polycystic kidney disease causes; 

Whereas polycystic kidney disease, for which there is no cure, 

is 1 of the 4 leading causes of kidney failure in the 

United States; 

Whereas the vast majority of polycystic kidney disease patients reach kidney failure at an average age of 53, causing a severe strain on dialysis and kidney transplantation 

resources and on the delivery of health care in the United 

States, as the largest segment of the population of the 

United States, the ‘‘baby boomers’’, continues to age; 

Whereas end stage renal disease is one of the fastest growing 

components of the Medicare budget, and polycystic kidney disease contributes to that cost by an estimated 

$2,000,000,000 annually for dialysis, kidney transplantation, and related therapies; 

Whereas polycystic kidney disease is a systemic disease that 

causes damage to the kidney and the cardiovascular, endocrine, hepatic, and gastrointestinal organ systems and 

instills in patients a fear of an unknown future with a 

life-threatening genetic disease and apprehension over 

possible genetic discrimination; 

Whereas the severity of the symptoms of polycystic kidney 

disease and the limited public awareness of the disease 

causes many patients to live in denial and forego regular 

visits to their physicians or to avoid following good health 


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management which would help avoid more severe complications when kidney failure occurs; 

Whereas people who have chronic, life-threatening diseases 

like polycystic kidney disease have a predisposition to depression (7 times the national average) and its resultant 

consequences due to their anxiety over pain, suffering, 

and premature death; 

Whereas the Senate and taxpayers of the United States desire to see treatments and cures for disease and would 

like to see results from investments in research conducted 

by the National Institutes of Health and from such initiatives as the NIH Roadmap to the Future; 

Whereas polycystic kidney disease is a verifiable example of 

how collaboration, technological innovation, scientific momentum, and public-private partnerships can generate 

therapeutic interventions that directly benefit polycystic 

kidney disease sufferers, save billions of Federal dollars 

under Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs for dialysis, kidney transplants, immunosuppressant drugs, and 

related therapies, and make available several thousand 

openings on the kidney transplant waiting list; 

Whereas improvements in diagnostic technology and the expansion of scientific knowledge about polycystic kidney 

disease have led to the discovery of the 3 primary genes 

that cause polycystic kidney disease and the 3 primary 

protein products of the genes and to the understanding 

of cell structures and signaling pathways that cause cyst 

growth that has produced multiple polycystic kidney disease clinical drug trials; 

Whereas the national PKD Foundation and its 60 volunteer 

chapters around the country are dedicated to expanding 


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essential research, fostering public awareness and understanding of polycystic kidney disease, educating polycystic 

kidney disease patients and their families about the disease to improve their treatment and care, providing appropriate moral support, and encouraging people to become organ donors; and 

Whereas the PKD Foundation’s Walk for PKD has grown 

from a small, grassroots activity to an annual national 

awareness event held during the third week of September, 

and such week would be an appropriate time to recognize 

National Polycystic Kidney Disease Week: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the goals and ideals of a National 

3 Polycystic Kidney Disease Awareness Week to raise 

4 public awareness and understanding of polycystic 

5 kidney disease (known as ‘‘PKD’’); 

6 (2) recognizes the need for additional research 

7 into a cure for polycystic kidney disease; and 

8 (3) encourages the people of the United States 

9 and interested groups to support National Polycystic 

10 Kidney Awareness Week through appropriate cere11 monies and activities to promote public awareness of 

12 polycystic kidney disease and to foster under13 standing of the impact of the disease on patients 

14 and their families. 

Æ 


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