Causes and Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

What is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)?

Chronic Kidney Disease(CKD)means when someone kidneys are not working as well as they once did. Your kidneys play an important role to filter the blood. They remove waste products and extra fluid and flush them from the body as urine. With loss of kidney function, there is a build up of water; wastes; and toxic substances in the body. You may develop complications such as high blood pressure, anemia, weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage.

Chronic Kidney Disease has been happening bit by bit for many years as a result of damage to your kidneys. Eventually, Kidney Failure can be caused, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive.

Also, kidney disease increases your risk of having heart and blood vessel disease.

Five stages of Chronic Kidney Disease

Below are the stages, description of the stages involve and the GFR

GFR (Glomerular filtration rate) is a test used to check how well the kidneys are working. Specifically, it estimates how much blood passes through the glomeruli each minute. Glomeruli are the tiny filters in the kidneys that filter waste from the blood.

Stage                     Description                                                 GFR

1        Kidney damage with normal or increased GFR                 >=90

2        Kidney damage with mild GFR fall                                  60-89

3        Moderate fall in GFR                                                      30-59

4        Severe fall in GFR                                                          15-29

5        Established renal failure                                                  < 15 or dialysis

Causes of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

Chronic Kidney Disease is caused by damage to the kidneys. The most common causes of this damage are listed below:

=> High blood pressure.

=> Diabetes (high blood sugar).

Other conditions that affect the kidneys are:

=> Glomerulonephritis, a group of diseases that cause inflammation and damage to the kidney's filtering units.

=> Lupus and other diseases that affect the body's immune system.

=> Inherited diseases like Polycystic Kidney Disease, which causes large cysts to form in the kidneys and damage the surrounding tissue.

=> Repeated urinary infections.

=> Malformations that a baby is born with.

=> Obstructions caused by problems like kidney stones, tumors or an enlarged prostate gland in men.