Chronic Kidney Disease and Cardiovascular Risk (y 2)

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About CKD and its Symptoms

Chronic Kidney Disease is the general name for persistent irreversible damage to the kidney. In its earliest stages, the kidneys may only have minor structural damage. Often such damage tends to progress if undetected and untreated. One of the signs of early CKD is the presence of small amounts of protein in the urine.(1) More advanced CKD is characterised by progressively greater abnormalities in the chemical composition of the blood, anaemia - a cause of tiredness and shortness of breath, and bone abnormalities. The most advanced form of CKD occurs when the kidney has been nearly completely destroyed and treatment with dialysis or kidney transplantation is required for survival. Many individuals with CKD do not progress to kidney failure and treatment has the twin objectives of correcting the abnormalities resulting from the kidney damage and of preventing progression to more advanced stages.

The most common causes of CKD are diabetes, hypertension, and glomerulonephritis(2) and many factors contribute to its progression. Loss of albumin into the urine is one of these key factors and when this occurs, renal disease usually progresses to the end stage unless reversed by treatment. The growing prevalence of obesity-related type 2 diabetes coupled with the ageing population has increased the number of people with CKD or at risk of it.(3)

    
    References
    (1) de Jong PE, van der Velde M, Gansevoort, RT, Zoccali, Z.Screening
        for Chronic Kidney Disease: Where Does Europe Go? Clin J Am Soc
        Nephrol 2008 3:616-623
    (2) National Kidney Foundation, 2009, How Your Kidneys Work,
        http://www.kidney.org/kidneyDisease/howk...
    (3) King H, Aubert RE, Herman WH. Global burden of diabetes, 1995-2025:
        prevalence, numerical estimates, and projections. Diabetes Care
        1998; 21: 1414-1431.

CONTACT: EKHA Media Queries, Anna Rouillard, +32-2-639-6230,anna.rouillard@ekha.eu; or WKD Media Queries, Sara Martin, +32-2-213-1398,smartin@isn-online.org, or Amgen Media Queries, Rachel Terry,+44-20-7300-6352, rachel.terry@bm.com