As kidney pills were advertised in the Shenbao only, this suggests that kidney deficiency was be considered as a specifically Chinese disease. Note that medical advertisements in the Shenbao usually associated kidney and back aches and sold standard "backache and kidney pills" (such as the famous "Doan" or "De Witt" Backache and Kidney Pills).

Also note a sort of nostalgic advertisement advertising an "Old method to cure in kidney illness" (古法運氣腎病專家 Gufa yunqi shenbing zhuanjia) in 1949.