Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) means a condition that damages one’s kidneys. It decreases kidney’s ability to keep one healthy by doing their functions.
CKD is a common, life-threatening illness that often goes undetected until very advanced.
CKD may progress slowly over a long time. A lot of people are not aware that they have kidney disease until it’s severe. If it’ found and treated early, CKD may often be slowed down or stopped.
The risk factors for CKD include:
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- A family history of kidney disease, diabetes or high blood pressure
- Obesity
- Kidney stone
- Above 50 years old
Annual Health Screening is vital to check whether your kidneys are healthy.
You should visit your doctor or clinic and get tested. Your checkup should include:
- Urine test for protein (NKF Health Screening)
- Protein is an important building block in your body. Any filtered protein is normally reabsorbed and kept in your body.
When your kidney are damaged, however, protein leaks into your urine.
- There are different tests to check for protein in your urine. If you have two positive tests over several weeks, you are said to have persistent protein in your urine. This is a sign of CKD.
- Blood pressure
- Blood test for glucose
- Blood test for creatinine
- Creatinine is a waste product that comes from muscle activity.
- Your kidneys normally remove creatinine from your blood. When your kidneys are damaged, however, your blood creatinine may build to a high level.
- The results of your test should be used to estimate your Glomerular Filtration Rate, or GFR. Your GFR tells how much kidney function you have.
