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Kidney Disease

Chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes can lead to chronic kidney disease that can come with an increased risk of cardiovascular problems.

More than 26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease and millions more are at increased risk for developing the disease, but most don’t even know it.  Dr. Bradley Schwartz, professor of urology at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield says there are two types of kidney disease.

SOUND BITE:  “. . . there are two classifications.  One is congenital so some people can be born with certain conditions that will just eventually lead to kidney failure.  Then there is acquired.  The latter is the category of people will get kidney disease as they get older from conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure, commonly called hypertension.”

Dr. Schwartz says diabetes can destroy the nerve tissue and blood vessels in the kidneys, also causing them to lose their filtering ability.  This can result in high levels of potassium, calcium and other elements in the blood stream, which can cause the need for dialysis and may lead to heart irregularities and heart failure.  He describes some risk factors for kidney disease.

SOUND BITE:   “. . . if someone has a strong family history of diabetes, smoking and tobacco use, high amounts of alcohol consumption, these can lead to kidney disease or kidney failure.  Anytime someone has had kidney failure in the past and that’s been relieved and then they had normal kidney function, they are at actually increased risk of kidney failure again in their lifetime.”

To help maintain healthy kidneys, Dr. Schwartz also encourages living a healthy lifestyle.  This includes a healthy diet and regular exercise and not smoking.

This is Ruth Slottag at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield.