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About Chronic Kidney Disease: A
Guide for Patients and their Families
The Facts about chronic kidney disease (CKD)
CKD - Prevent the progression from CKD to
kidney failure and cardiovascular disease
- Early detection can help prevent the
progression of kidney disease to kidney failure.
- Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the
best estimate of kidney function.
- Hypertension causes CKD and CKD causes
hypertension.
- Persistent proteinuria means CKD.
- High risk groups include those with
diabetes, hypertension and family history of kidney disease.
- Africans at increased risk.
- Three simple tests can detect CKD: blood
pressure, urine and serum creatinine.
How do your kidneys help maintain health?
In addition to removing wastes and fluid from
your body, your kidneys perform these other important jobs:
- Regulate your body water and other
chemicals in your blood such as sodium, potassium, phosphorus and
calcium
- Remove drugs and toxins introduced into
your body
- Release hormones into your blood to help
your body:
- regulate blood pressure
- make red blood cells
- promote strong bones.
What is chronic kidney disease (CKD)?
Chronic kidney disease includes conditions
that damage your kidneys and decrease their ability to keep you
healthy by doing the jobs listed. If kidney disease gets worse,
wastes can build to high levels in your blood and make you feel
sick. You may develop complications like high blood pressure, anemia
(low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve
damage. Also, kidney disease increases your risk of having heart and
blood vessel disease. These problems may happen slowly over a long
period of time. Chronic kidney disease may be caused by diabetes,
high blood pressure and other disorders. Early detection and
treatment can often keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse.
When kidney disease progresses, it may eventually lead to kidney
failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain
life.
What causes CKD?
The two main causes of chronic kidney disease
are diabetes and high blood pressure, which are responsible for up
to two-thirds of the cases. Diabetes happens when your blood sugar
is too high, causing damage to many organs in your body, including
the kidneys and heart, as well as blood vessels, nerves and eyes.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, occurs when the pressure of
your blood against the walls of your blood vessels increases. If
uncontrolled, or poorly controlled, high blood pressure can be a
leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and chronic kidney disease.
Also, chronic kidney disease can cause high blood pressure.
Other conditions that affect the kidneys are:
- Glomerulonephritis, a group of diseases
that cause inflammation and damage to the kidney's filtering
units. These disorders are the third most common type of kidney
disease.
- Inherited diseases, such as polycystic
kidney disease, which causes large cysts to form in the kidneys
and damage the surrounding tissue.
- Malformations that occur as a baby develops
in its mother's womb. For example, a narrowing may occur that
prevents normal outflow of urine and causes urine to flow back up
to the kidney. This causes infections and may damage the kidneys.
- Lupus and other diseases that affect the
body's immune system.
- Obstructions caused by problems like kidney
stones, tumors or an enlarged prostate gland in men.
- Repeated urinary infections.
What are the symptoms of CKD?
Most people may not have any severe symptoms
until their kidney disease is advanced. However, you may notice that
you:
- feel more tired and have less energy
- have trouble concentrating
- have a poor appetite
- have trouble sleeping
- have muscle cramping at night
- have swollen feet and ankles
- have puffiness around your eyes, especially
in the morning
- have dry, itchy skin
- need to urinate more often, especially at
night.
Anyone can get chronic kidney disease at any
age. However, some people are more likely than others to develop
kidney disease. You may have an increased risk for kidney disease if
you:
- have diabetes
- have high blood pressure
- have a family history of chronic kidney
disease
- are older
- belong to a population group that has a
high rate of diabetes or high blood pressure, such as Africans.
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See also in this A-Z guide:
- Your Child Has Hydronephrosis
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