chronic kidney disease

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.

The Facts About Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

• 26 million American adults have CKD and millions of others are at increased risk.
• Early detection can help prevent the progression of kidney disease to kidney failure.
• Heart disease is the major cause of death for all people with CKD.
• Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the best estimate of kidney function.
• Hypertension causes CKD and CKD causes hypertension.
• Persistent proteinuria (protein in the urine) means CKD is present.
• High risk groups include those with diabetes, hypertension and family history of kidney failure.
• African Americans, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Seniors are at increased risk.
• Two simple tests can detect CKD: blood pressure, urine albumin and serum creatinine.

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.