Each year in the United States, more than 100,000 people are diagnosed with kidney failure, a serious condition in which the kidneys fail to rid the body of wastes. Kidney failure is the final stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

 

Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney failure, accounting for nearly 44 percent of new cases. Even when diabetes is controlled, the disease can lead to CKD and kidney failure. Most people with diabetes do not develop CKD that is severe enough to progress to kidney failure. Nearly 24 million people in the United States have diabetes, and nearly 180,000 people are living with kidney failure as a result of diabetes.

People with kidney failure undergo dialysis, an artificial blood-cleaning process, or transplantation to receive a healthy kidney from a donor. Most U.S. citizens who develop kidney failure are eligible for federally funded care. In 2005, care for patients with kidney failure cost the United States nearly $32 billion.

About Kidney Failure

 

When your kidneys lose their ability to filter waste from your body, dangerous levels of waste and fluids build up. This condition is known as kidney failure or renal failure. Sometimes this occurs acutely, such as after surgery or if blood vessels leading to or from kidneys are blocked. Chronic kidney failure, however, develops slowly over time, and most people don't know they have it until it is in its advanced stages.

 

When kidney function has decreased to less than 25 percent of normal capacity, symptoms often appear. Two common causes of chronic renal failure are high blood pressure and diabetes. During end-stage renal disease, when kidneys function at less than 10 percent of normal, the kidneys cannot sustain life. Western medicine believes that dialysis or a kidney transplant is necessary in order to stay alive.

 

When left alone, chronic kidney failure can lead to other complications, such as congestive heart failure, weak bones, and central nervous system damage. The symptoms do not usually occur until after irreversible damage has occurred. These symptoms include decreased urine output, unexplained weight loss, high blood pressure, anemia, and fatigue. Itching skin, muscle cramps, and intestinal bleeding can also occur.

 

Many things can lead to chronic kidney failure, although diabetes and hypertension are the two most common causes. Obstructive nephropathy, when urine outflow is blocked by an enlarged prostate, tumors, or kidney stones, can also cause it. Other kidney diseases such as polycystic kidney disease, kidney infections, and glomerulonephritis, where your kidneys leak protein into your urine, are other causes.*