Information for Patients: Chronic Kidney Disease
No one that I know wants to go on dialysis and you don’t have to. Diabetes is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease leading to dialysis on a kidney machine. Almost half of the Americans with chronic kidney disease also have diabetes. More than a third of patients with diabetes also have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Controlling the blood pressure and blood sugar with the right medications and lifestyle measures is extremely effective in preventing the need for dialysis. Patients with diabetes and on optimal medical treatment reduce their chance of needing dialysis six-fold compared with patients on usual care—the care that most of use receive. Here is the problem. Only one in ten Americans with CKD know that they have it.
CKD is very easy to diagnose. Every patient with diabetes should have a test each year to check for protein in the urine and a blood test to check on kidney function. If only ten percent of Americans with CKD know that they have it, most Americans are not being tested or they have not been told about the results and what they mean. The stakes are even higher because patients who have CKD have a much higher risk of death, heart attack, and stroke that can also be dramatically reduced. If you are a patient with diabetes or high blood pressure, make sure that you have these kidney tests once a year and that you know the results.