News Release

Chronic Renal Failure
Fact Sheet

OVERVIEW

Kidney Function

• Kidneys act like a 24-hour cleaning crew for the blood. They filter out waste products and excess water, balance chemicals in the blood such as potassium and sodium, and also remove excess acid. They also produce various hormones, including those that help bone marrow make red blood cells and those that assist in calcium and phosphorus metabolism.
• Most people have two kidneys, each the size of a fist. These are located on either side of the backbone, just above the small of the back.
• Each day, the kidneys process roughly 1,600 liters of blood.

Kidney Failure

• There are two kinds of kidney failure: acute, which is sudden, and chronic, which is gradual.
  • Acute kidney failure is a sudden loss of kidney function that may reverse within a few weeks. It usually occurs in response to an injury or poison. A person with acute kidney failure needs treatment very quickly to stay alive.
  • Chronic kidney failure means that a person's kidneys stop working gradually as a result of a long-term disease.
• Just one kidney, working at about 20 percent capacity can keep a person healthy.
• Individuals with kidney function below 20 percent capacity may feel tired, weak and experience loss of appetite due to the build up of toxic waste in the blood. The resulting build-up of fluid in the body can cause tissue swelling, lung congestion and high blood pressure.
• Progression of chronic renal failure to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) can be a gradual process where individuals may not recognize symptoms.
• There is currently no cure for ESRD, but with the help of dialysis or a kidney transplant, a person with ESRD can live a longer and healthier life.

PREVALENCE AND COSTS OF END-STAGE RENAL DISEASE

• It is estimated that more than one million people worldwide suffering from chronic kidney failure are treated with some form of dialysis therapy, with more than 300,000 in the United States. The number of people with ESRD is growing at about eight percent annually worldwide, and as the number of patients increase, so do the costs for treating the disease.
• According to the United States Renal Data System (USRDS), more than $15 billion is spent nationwide each year managing ESRD, making it one of the most costly illnesses to treat in the United States.
  

PRIMARY CAUSES OF END-STAGE RENAL DISEASE

Diabetes
Diabetes is the leading cause of ESRD, accounting for more than 40 percent of all new cases. Diabetes can damage the small blood vessels (glomeruli) in the kidneys because of high levels of blood glucose (blood sugar).

High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
Hypertension is the second most common cause of kidney failure. It may cause few symptoms until it is quite advanced. If not treated, high blood pressure can also damage the small blood vessels in the kidneys.

Glomerulonephritis
Glomerulonephritis is a disease that damages the kidney's filtering units, called glomeruli, usually affecting and causing progressive damage to both kidneys.

Polycystic Kidney Disease
Polycystic kidney disease is a hereditary condition, which causes cysts to grow in the kidneys, making them enlarged and at risk for failure.

SYMPTOMS OF END-STAGE RENAL DISEASE

Symptoms of kidney failure vary from person to person, but the following are among the most common:

RISK FACTORS/DEMOGRAPHICS

• ESRD is slightly more common in men than in women and three to five times more prevalent among African-Americans and Native-Americans than Caucasians. African-Americans account for 30 percent of the ESRD population, but only 13 percent of the total U.S. population.
• The higher prevalence in African-Americans is not surprising since hypertension is disproportionately high among African-Americans, who represent nearly 35 percent of those with hypertension.
• Diabetes is especially common among Native-Americans. About one in five Native-Americans has diabetes versus one of 20 people in the adult U.S. population.
• Nearly three-fourths of ESRD patients in the U.S. are age 45 or older (average age of 61).