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Chronic Kidney Disease: A Family Affair

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the permanent loss of kidney function. CKD may be the result of physical injury or a disease that damages the kidneys, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. When the kidneys are damaged, they do not remove wastes and extra water from the blood as well as they should.

CKD is a family affair because you may be at risk if you have a blood relative with kidney failure.

CKD is a silent condition. In the early stages, you will not notice any symptoms. CKD often develops so slowly that many people don't realize they're sick until the disease is advanced and they are rushed to the hospital for life-saving dialysis.

A Growing Problem
CKD is a growing problem in the United States. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of people with kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplantation virtually doubled to 380,000. If this trend continues, the number of people with kidney failure will approach 700,000 by 2010. The annual cost of treating kidney failure in the United States has already topped $20 billion.

Kidney failure is only a part of the picture. Experts estimate that 20 million Americans have significantly reduced kidney function, and even a small loss of kidney function can double a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Many of these people will experience heart attacks or strokes before they become aware of their kidney disease. So identifying and treating CKD early can help prevent heart problems as well as postpone kidney failure.

In 1990, there were 180,000 people with kidney failure. In 2000, there were 380,000 people with kidney failure.
Between 1990 and 2000, the number of people with kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplantation more than doubled.

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Who is at risk?

Risk factors are conditions that make you more likely to develop a disease. The leading risk factors for CKD are

  • diabetes


  • high blood pressure


  • family history of kidney failure

Having diabetes increases your risk of developing CKD. In fact, diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure. High blood pressure is the second leading cause.

CKD runs in families, so you may have an increased risk if your mother, father, sister, or brother has kidney failure.

Some racial groups are also at increased risk for CKD.

  • African Americans are nearly four times as likely to develop kidney failure as white Americans.


  • American Indians have nearly three times the risk compared to whites.


  • Hispanic Americans have nearly twice the risk of non-Hispanic whites.

Illustration of a nurse drawing blood from a woman's arm.
Screening for kidney disease includes simple blood and urine tests.

If you have diabetes or high blood pressure, or a close family member with kidney failure, you should get checked for kidney disease, especially if you're a member of one of the racial or ethnic groups at higher risk for CKD.