
What is diabetic nephropathy?
Diabetic nephropathy refers to kidney disease that occurs in people with diabetes. The kidneys help regulate the amount of fluids and salts in the body, which helps to control blood pressure and releases different types of hormones.
Nephropathy is the term used when the kidneys start to incur damage, which can ultimately lead to kidney failure. In this article, we look at the link between diabetes and kidney failure.
Contents of this article:
What is diabetic nephropathy?
Kidney problems are relatively common in people with diabetes. This is because diabetes affects the arteries in the body and the kidney filters blood from those arteries. It is estimated that around 40 percent of people who have type 2 diabetes develop nephropathy.
People with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes can be affected by nephropathy. Diabetic nephropathy is a significant cause of long-term kidney disease and end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which is when the kidneys no longer work well enough to meet the needs of daily life.
There are five stages of diabetic nephropathy, and ESRD is the last. Diabetic nephropathy is the most frequent cause of ESRD in the United States, with between 40 and 50 percent of all ESRD cases directly related to it. A person with ESRD will require dialysis.
Causes
Diabetic nephropathy is when the kidneys become leaky, allowing albumin (a protein made by the liver) to pass into the urine. The condition worsens as the level of albumin increases.
Diabetic nephropathy develops slowly and is more common in people who have had diabetes for 20 years or more.
Diabetic nephropathy is
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