Living With Chronic Kidney Disease | End-Stage Renal Disease Info
A healthy kidney is crucial to keeping the whole chemical balance in our body. A well-functioning kidney helps regulate water, removes waste products from the body, and produces hormones. For those with chronic kidney disease (CKD), the news of having CKD can be difficult, particularly for end-stage renal disease. But even with this condition, people with CKD still have the means to stop the condition from progressing to worse.
What is Chronic Kidney Disease?
Chronic Kidney Disease refers to the condition of the decrease in kidney function over time. The kidney’s ability to filter waste from the blood decreases. This can lead to complications like nerve damage, high blood pressure, and anemia.
In America, there are 37 million adults with Chronic Kidney Disease. This kidney disease may be caused by several factors like hypertension and diabetes. Unmanaged high blood sugar may cause damage to the body organs including kidneys, eyes, blood vessels, and nerves. Meanwhile, high blood pressure if poorly controlled leads to CKD.
Anyone can get Chronic Kidney Disease regardless of age. However, certain demographics are more likely to develop Chronic Kidney Disease or have higher risks of developing CKD:
- Diabetic patients
- High blood pressure
- People with a history of kidney disease or kidney failure
- Or people who belong to the population group with a high rate of the above-mentioned health conditions: hypertension and diabetes such as Asian, Hispanic Americans, Pacific Islanders, and African Americans
What are the Stages of Chronic Disease?
CKD progresses over time but with proper medication and a change of lifestyle, this may slow down if not prevent the progression of the disease.
The stages of CKD are determined using the GFR (Glomerular Filtration Rate) using the person’s age, gender, and total serum creatinine level.
- Stage 1 is when a person has GFR normal or a high level greater than 90 ml/min. During this stage, no symptoms indicate that the kidney is damaged but can be detected due to blood or protein in the urine or kidney damage through MRI, ultrasound, or CT scan.
- Stage 2 is quite the same as Stage 1 except for the slight increase in GFR of 60-89 ml/min.
- Stage 3 CKD is when a person starts to notice changes in urination like volume, color, and frequency. Also, this stage shows symptoms of swelling and water retention.
- Stage 4 is when a patient may need to develop complications like anemia, heart disease, or heart disease. Symptoms like nausea, fatigue, numbness in fingers and toes, swelling, metallic taste in the mouth, and kidney pain in the back are the common signs of Stage 4 CKD.
- Stage 5 or end-stage renal disease is the stage where the kidney has nearly lost its ability to function effectively, and dialysis is necessary to live. At this stage, a nephrologist will recommend which treatment is best for you.
The Importance of Clinical Research for End-Stage Renal Disease
Clinical research will help experts in the medical field to discover medical and clinical strategies to improve the lives of patients with end-stage renal disease. Rigorous clinical research will facilitate treatment strategies that could help improve the quality of end-stage renal disease care, decision making, and the patient’s health.
Through advanced clinical research, researchers will perform comparative studies on different and commonly implemented treatments for CKD and other complications due to CKD.
The National Institute of Clinical Research is an SMO/CRO with offices and labs in the following cities and states: New Jersey, North Carolina, Austin, San Diego, San Francisco, Bakersfield 93309, Fountain Valley 92708, Garden Grove 92840, Hacienda Heights 91745, Huntington Beach 92648, Las Vegas 89106, Long Beach 90806, Los Angeles 90048, Ontario 91762, Rosemead 91770, San Antonio 78207, Santa Ana 92704, Upland 91786, and Westminster 92683.
