Chronic Kidney Disease and You
33% of adults or 1 in three people in the United States are at risk for kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is permanent kidney damage or a decreased level of kidney function that continues for three months or more. When left untreated, CKD can lead to complete kidney failure. If that happens, the only options for survival are dialysis or a kidney transplant.
According to the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan:
- 37 million Americans over the age of 20 have chronic kidney disease, also known as CKD, including kidney failure.
- More than a million (or 1 in 7) adults in Michigan have chronic kidney disease. And most of them don’t even know it.
- Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure in the U.S.
- High blood pressure is the second leading cause.
- African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans are at an increased risk for developing CKD.
- African Americans are four times more likely to develop kidney failure because of diabetes than Caucasians.
- African Americans are also 6.5 times more likely to develop kidney failure because of high blood pressure.
- Kidney failure caused by diabetes or high blood pressure can be prevented or delayed by eating healthy, increasing physical activity, and taking the right medications.
In most cases, the damage is caused by diabetes and high blood pressure. Diabetes occurs when your blood sugar is too high, resulting in damage to many organs and muscles in your body — including the kidneys and heart as well as blood vessels, nerves and eyes. High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, occurs when the pressure of your blood increases against the walls of your blood vessels. If not controlled, high blood pressure can lead to heart attacks, strokes and chronic kidney disease.
You can see your risk for kidney disease by taking the following quiz: https://www.kidney.org/kidney-quiz/
Learn more about kidney disease at https://nkfm.org/conditions/kidney-disease/.