Early Signs of Kidney Renal Disease

Healthy kidneys remove waste from blood that is circulated throughout the body. Any waste is sent to the bladder and released as urine. Kidney disease is a serious problem that could become fatal if left untreated.

Identification

People with kidney disease do not typically show symptoms of the illness early on. Signs of kidney disease show up through routine blood or urine tests.

Recommended Tests

Three tests recommended by the National Kidney Foundation are a blood pressure measurement, a check for albumin in the urine, and a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) calculation.

Understanding the Tests

High blood pressure can mean the kidneys are damaged. Kidney disease can also be represented by the kidney's inability to separate albumin, a blood protein, from the waste, indicated by excess amounts of albumin in urine samples. A high level of creatinine in the blood, measured by a GFR, is another sign of kidney disease.

Significance

The National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse claims that GFR is the best indicator of kidney disease. A GFR level of 90 or above indicates a normal level, 30 to 59 indicates moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD), 15 to 29 is severe CKD, and below 15 represents kidney failure.

Symptoms

Symptoms of moderate CKD are anemia and weak bones. The number and severity of symptoms get worse as the disease progresses.

References

• National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse: The Kidneys and How They Work