What is chronic kidney failure? How many stages of kidney failure?

Anyone can have kidney disease, the most common of which is glomerular disease. This disease accounts for up to 40% of the risk of kidney failure with diseases such as: chronic glomerulonephritis, glomerulonephritis due to metabolic disorders, glomerulonephritis due to systemic diseases, nephrotic syndrome...

In our country, the rate of people with chronic kidney disease, also known as kidney failure, is about 10.1% of the population, with about 8,000 new cases each year. The cause of death due to chronic kidney disease ranks 8th among the leading causes of death in Vietnam.

People with chronic kidney failure cannot be completely cured. Over time, the patient will progress to the final stage and will need renal replacement therapy.

How long can a person with kidney failure live? If the patient follows the treatment regimen correctly, the time from the detection of chronic kidney failure until kidney failure can be about 10-20 years.

In case of poor kidney failure control, the patient may suffer from some diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and is susceptible to complications.

Warning signs of kidney failure

Kidney failure is divided into 5 stages: in stage 1 and 2 the disease has not yet caused kidney dysfunction; from stage 3 the disease begins to appear kidney dysfunction; stage 5 is the most severe stage of the disease, at this time it requires treatment with methods such as kidney transplantation, peritoneal dialysis, and hemodialysis.

Chronic kidney failure often progresses silently, so the disease is often detected at a late stage. Patients often ignore or adapt to unclear and vague symptoms. Moreover, there are many young people with kidney failure who are subjective and do not seek medical treatment, leading to unfortunate consequences.

Some early signs of kidney failure are:

Oliguria, Edema, Anemia, Heart failure or high blood pressure. Gastrointestinal symptoms may include nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea, or gastrointestinal bleeding. Neurological problems may include drowsiness, lethargy, coma, or seizures.

However, these signs are often non-specific and patients are easily subjective or confused with other diseases. Therefore, everyone should have regular health check-ups or when there is any abnormality in the body, they should visit a medical facility for early detection and treatment.

How to prevent kidney disease?

There is no way to completely prevent kidney disease in general. However, people can maintain a healthy lifestyle to reduce the risk of disease by:

- Drink enough water

- If you have underlying diseases, you need to control them well: blood pressure, blood sugar...

- Exercise regularly

- Maintain personal hygiene and practice safe sex

- Limit foods high in fat, processed foods, and foods high in salt. Increase fiber, green vegetables, fruits, etc. in your daily menu.

- Control the amount of protein and potassium intake

- Regular health check-ups to detect risks early, do not be subjective with body abnormalities.