The Facts About Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

Chronic kidney disease includes conditions that damage your kidneys and decrease their ability to keep you healthy by doing the jobs listed. If kidney disease gets worse, wastes can build to high levels in your blood and make you feel sick. You may develop complications like high blood pressure, anemia (low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage. Also, kidney disease increases your risk of having heart and blood vessel disease. These problems may happen slowly over a long period of time. Chronic kidney disease may be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and other disorders. Early detection and treatment can often keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse. When kidney disease progresses, it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.

More than 10% of people, or more than 20 million, aged 20 years or older in the United States have CKD.
CKD is more common among women than men.
More than 35% of people aged 20 years or older with diabetes have CKD.
More than 20% of people aged 20 years or older with hypertension have CKD.

WHO IS AT MORE RISK OF CKD?
1 in 3 Australians is at an increased risk of developing CKD1.

Adult Australians are at an increased risk of CKD if they:
are 60 years or older
are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin
have diabetes
have a family history of kidney disease
have established heart problems (heart failure or past heart attack) and/or have had a stroke
have high blood pressure
are obese (BMI more than or equal to >30)
are a smoker

The greater prevalence of CKD in some Indigenous Australian communities is due to the high incidence of traditional risk factors including diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking2, in addition to increased levels of inadequate nutrition, alcohol abuse, streptococcal throat and skin infection, and poor living conditions3.