Kidney Disease - Complications of Diabetes

Some potential diabetes complications are:

• Heart disease
• Kidney disease/Kidney transplantation
• Eye complications
• Diabetic Neuropathy and nerve damage

• Foot Complications
• Skin Complications
• Gastroparesis
• Depression

Kidney Function

The kidneys’ role is to remove waste products from the blood. Inside the kidneys are millions of tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that act as filters. Digestion of proteins creates waste products that need to be removed. Normally, as blood flows through the small capillaries, tiny molecules that consost of waste products flow through the holes with water to make urine for removal from the body. Useful substances, such as protein and red blood cells are too big to pass through the filter and they remain in the blood.

High levels of blood sugar from poorly controlled diabetes can make the kidneys work too hard, putting extra stress on them. After years of damage, the kidneys start to leak and useful protein leaks in the urine. Having a small amount of protein in the urine is known as microalbuminuria. When kidney disease is diagnosed early during microalbuminuria, there are several treatments that may keep the kidney disease from getting worse. However, when kidney disease is caught later, end-stage renal disease (ESRD) usually follows.

Here are Some Facts about Diabetes & Kidney Disease

• 10-21% of all people with diabetes have nephropathy (kidney disease).
• Approximately 43% of new cases of ESRD are attributed to diabetes.
• The risk of ESRD is 12 times higher in people with type 1 diabetes than in those with type 2.
• In the US, the incidence of ESRD in people with diabetes is more than 4 times higher in African Americans, 4 to 6 times higher in Mexican Americans and 6 times higher in Native Americans than the remaining population of diabetic patients.