Chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease includes conditions that damage your kidneys and decrease their ability to filter blood the way they should.

If kidney disease progresses, 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, blood vessel disease,  and nerve damage.

Early detection and treatment of chronic kidney disease can stop its progression. If not it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.

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.

• The two main causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure.
• You have diabetes when your blood sugar is too high, causing damage to vital organs in your body like the kidneys and heart, blood vessels, nerves, and eyes.
• High blood pressure, or hypertension, occurs when the pressure of your blood against the walls of your blood vessels is abnormally high. If uncontrolled, or poorly controlled, high blood pressure will lead to heart attacks, strokes, and chronic kidney disease.
• Glomerulonephritis, a group of diseases that cause inflammation and damage to the kidney’s filtering units. These disorders constitute 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.

Until kidney disease is advanced most people may not have any severe symptoms. However, you may observe that you:

• feel more tired and experience fatigue
• have poor concentration
• have a poor appetite
• have difficulty sleeping
• have muscle cramping at night
• have swollen feet and ankles
• have puffiness around your eyes, especially in the morning
• need to urinate more often, especially at night
• have dry, itchy skin.

How can I tell if I have kidney disease?

Early kidney disease usually doesn’t have any symptoms. Testing is the only way to know how well your kidneys are working. Get checked for kidney disease if you have

• diabetes
• high blood pressure
• heart disease
• a family history of kidney failure

If you have diabetes, get checked every year. If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, or a family history of kidney failure, talk with any of our health care providers at Atinu Critical Care Hospital about how often you should get tested. The sooner you know you have kidney disease, the sooner you can get treatment to help protect your kidneys.

What tests are used to diagnose and monitor kidney disease?

To check for kidney disease, health care providers use

• a blood test that checks how well your kidneys are filtering your blood, called GFR. GFR stands for glomerular filtration rate.
• a urine test to check for albumin. Albumin is a protein that can pass into the urine when the kidneys are damaged.

If you have kidney disease, we will use the same two tests to help monitor your kidney disease and make sure your treatment plan is working

Blood test for GFR

A  blood test can be used to check your kidney function. The results of the test mean the following:

• a GFR of 60 or more is in the normal range.
• a GFR of less than 60 may mean you have kidney disease.
• a GFR of 15 or less is called kidney failure. Most people below this level need dialysis or a kidney transplant. Get in touch with us about your treatment options.

Creatinine. Creatinine is a waste product from the normal breakdown of muscles in your body. Your kidneys remove creatinine from your blood. We use the amount of creatinine in your blood to estimate your GFR. As kidney disease gets worse, the level of creatinine goes up.

Urine Test for Albumin

If you are at risk for kidney disease, you might need to have your urine checked for albumin.

Albumin is a protein found in your blood. A healthy kidney doesn’t let albumin pass into the urine. A damaged kidney lets some albumin pass into the urine. The less albumin in your urine, the better. Having albumin in the urine is called albuminuria.

Albumin in your urine can be checked in two ways:

Dipstick test for albumin. A urine sample is used to look for albumin in your urine. You collect the urine sample in a container in the doctor’s office or lab. For the test, a strip of chemically treated paper, called a dipstick, is placed into the urine. The dipstick changes color if albumin is present in the urine.

Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR). This test measures and compares the amount of albumin with the amount of creatinine in your urine sample. Providers use your UACR to estimate how much albumin would pass into your urine over 24 hours. A urine albumin result of

• 30 mg/g or less is normal
• more than 30 mg/g may be a sign of kidney disease