Overview – Chronic kidney disease
CKD can range from a mild condition with no or few symptoms, to a very serious condition where the kidneys stop working, sometimes called kidney failure.
Kidney Disease Life Expectancy: The 5 Stages
Kidney disease leads to a reduction in life expectancy. How much of a reduction? It depends on several factors, especially a person’s age, sex, and the stage of the disease. Questions like these were first answered less than a decade ago. But thanks to an enormous amount of research, doctors now have an excellent picture of the prognosis for kidney disease.
Nevertheless, it’s important to keep in mind, every person is different—not just in terms of personality, but in terms of genetics, current health condition, and so forth. Life expectancy estimates can make no guarantees, but they may provide you with a general outlook.
The Stages of Kidney Disease
How many stages of kidney disease are there? It’s a little complicated. While there are five primary stages of kidney diseases, the third stage can be broken into two sub-stages. Each stage is determined by measuring glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which is used to indicate how well the kidneys are functioning.
Stage 1 and 2: Early Warnings
Stage 1 indicates a person with normal GFR at or above 90mL/min. The second stage is indicated by GFR between 60-89mL/min, which is when minor symptoms tend to start. In these stages, kidney disease can be caught before it has done any significant damage.
Stage 3, 4, and 5: Nearing Kidney Failure
It’s stage 3 that defines the point at which mortality becomes a greater concern than the likelihood of developing end-stage renal disease. With kidney function reduced between 59-30mL/min, the previously minor symptoms of stage 2 become far more severe. From the end of stage 3, there are only 15-points of kidney function standing between entering stage 5, which indicates total kidney failure.
Life Expectancy by Sex
As much as anything else, life expectancy for kidney disease depends on a person’s age and sex.
For a 60-year-old man, stage 1 kidney disease life expectancy will be approximately 15 years. That figure falls to 13 years, 8 years, and 6 years in the second, third, and fourth stages of kidney disease respectively. For a 60-year old woman, stage 1 life expectancy is 18 years, while stage 2 is only one year less. For stage 3 kidney disease, her life expectancy would be 11 years.
In short, women have a slightly greater life expectancy at all ages. But during stages 4 and 5, those advantages slip away, and life expectancy becomes essentially identical between the sexes.
Life Expectancy by Age
Age changes everything. Consider the life expectancy of 70-year old men and women. For a 70-year old man, his life expectancy for the first four stages of kidney disease would be 9 years, 8 years, 6 years, and 4 years respectively.
For a 70-year-old woman, life expectancy is 11 years, 8 years, and 4 years. Once again, women start with a greater life expectancy, but the differences disappear in later stages of the disease.
Stage Five
Stage 5 kidney disease means total kidney failure and the necessity of dialysis. Five decades ago, a failed kidney meant death was likely. These days, things are quite a bit different. According to the National Kidney Foundation, the average life expectancy for a patient on dialysis is 5-10 years. Though for someone between the ages of 70 and 74, life expectancy is closer to four years on dialysis.
Keeping Healthy Kidneys
Age and health problems can impair your ability to endure kidney disease. While there’s no cure, there are things you can to do learn to manage kidney disease.
If there’s one thing this data should make clear, it’s that taking some simple steps to prevent the progression of kidney disease won’t only preserve health, but it can help save years of life.
Overview – Chronic kidney disease
It’s a common condition often associated with getting older. It can affect anyone, but it’s more common in people who are black or of south Asian origin.
CKD can get worse over time and eventually the kidneys may stop working altogether, but this is uncommon. Many people with CKD are able to live long lives with the condition.
Symptoms of CKD
There are usually no symptoms of kidney disease in the early stages. It may only be diagnosed if you have a blood or urine test for another reason and the results show a possible problem with your kidneys.
At a more advanced stage, symptoms can include:
- tiredness
- swollen ankles, feet or hands
- shortness of breath
- feeling sick
- blood in your pee (urine)
See a GP if you have persistent or worrying symptoms that you think could be caused by kidney disease.
Find out more about the symptoms of CKD.
Causes of CKD
Chronic kidney disease is usually caused by other conditions that put a strain on the kidneys. Often it’s the result of a combination of different problems.
CKD can be caused by:
- high blood pressure – over time, this can put strain on the small blood vessels in the kidneys and stop the kidneys working properly
- diabetes – too much glucose in your blood can damage the tiny filters in the kidneys
- high cholesterol – this can cause a build-up of fatty deposits in the blood vessels supplying your kidneys, which can make it harder for them to work properly
- kidney infections
- glomerulonephritis – kidney inflammation
- autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease – an inherited condition where growths called cysts develop in the kidneys
- blockages in the flow of urine – for example, from kidney stones that keep coming back, or an enlarged prostate
- long-term, regular use of certain medicines – such as lithium and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
You can help prevent CKD by making healthy lifestyle changes and ensuring any underlying conditions you have are well controlled.
Tests for CKD
CKD can be diagnosed using blood and urine tests. These tests look for high levels of certain substances in your blood and urine that are signs your kidneys are not working properly.
If you’re at a high risk of developing kidney disease (for example, you have a known risk factor such as high blood pressure or diabetes), you may be advised to have regular tests to check for CKD so it’s found at an early stage.
The results of your blood and urine tests can be used to tell the stage of your kidney disease. This is a number that reflects how severe the damage to your kidneys is, with a higher number indicating more serious CKD.
Treatments for CKD
There’s no cure for CKD, but treatment can help relieve the symptoms and stop it getting worse.
Your treatment will depend on how severe your condition is.
The main treatments are:
- lifestyle changes to help you remain as healthy as possible
- medicine to control associated problems such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol
- dialysis – treatment to replicate some of the kidney’s functions; this may be necessary in advanced CKD
- kidney transplant – this may also be necessary in advanced CKD
You’ll also be advised to have regular check-ups to monitor your condition.
Outlook for CKD
CKD can range from a mild condition with no or few symptoms, to a very serious condition where the kidneys stop working, sometimes called kidney failure.
Most people with CKD will be able to control their condition with medicine and regular check-ups. CKD only progresses to kidney failure in around 2 in 100 people with the condition.
If you have CKD, even if it’s mild, you’re at an increased risk of developing other serious problems, such as cardiovascular disease. This is a group of conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels, which includes heart attack and stroke.
Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of death in people with kidney disease, although healthy lifestyle changes and medicine can help reduce your risk of developing it.
Want to know more?
- Kidney Care UK: Chronic kidney disease
- National Kidney Federation: What is kidney disease?
- Kidney Research UK: Chronic kidney disease
Information:
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