According to the survey, the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among adults in mainland China is as high as 10.8%, and on average, one in ten adults is troubled by chronic kidney disease.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) often has an insidious onset, with few or no symptoms in the early stages, and may progress to uremia as the kidneys fail.
So what are the early manifestations of chronic kidney disease?
What are some common causes?
On May 9, Hong Fuyuan, chief physician of the Department of Nephrology of the Urology and Nephrology Center of Fujian Provincial Hospital, and Ye Liefu, chief physician of the Department of Urology and Nephrology of Fujian Provincial Hospital, were guests in the live broadcast room of "Big Doctor Talk" to discuss kidney-related knowledge.
As of press time, this program has been watched and rewatched by more than 350,000 people on the live broadcast platform of Fujian Health News, video account, Douyin account, Fujian Daily video account and other platforms.
Be vigilant: early symptoms can be confused with other diseases
The kidneys, the vital organ of the human body, actually have unimaginable reserves and self-repair mechanisms. Even if some nephrons are damaged, the kidneys are able to maintain normal physiological functions. So why is the kidneys so strong, but the incidence of chronic kidney disease in the mainland remains high?
Hong Fuyuan pointed out that the causes of chronic kidney disease are diverse, in addition to the direct cause of primary glomerular disease, common diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are important triggers. At the same time, genetic factors, ageing, obesity, etc. are also considered important risk factors. More notably, long-term exposure to nephrotoxins, such as certain drugs, heavy metals, pesticides and radiation, can also cause kidney damage. In addition, poor lifestyle habits, such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and unhealthy eating habits, also pose a serious threat to kidney health.
Ang stressed that understanding the causes of chronic kidney disease is essential for prevention and management. It is important to note that chronic kidney disease often has no obvious external symptoms in the early stages, but as the disease progresses, patients may gradually develop a series of mild but not negligible manifestations.
Examples include changes in urine output, edema, fatigue and weakness, sleep problems, loss of appetite, lack of clarity, muscle cramps, itchy skin, high blood pressure, difficulty breathing, hematuria or proteinuria, foamy urine, and frequent nocturia. These symptoms may be subtle and easily confused with other conditions, but they are important warning signs of chronic kidney disease. If you have any of the above symptoms, you can find signs of the disease through urinalysis, urine ACR (urine albumin/creatinine ratio), and renal function tests (such as serum creatinine level).
Once chronic kidney disease develops to an advanced stage, the difficulty of treatment will be greatly increased, and it may even be life-threatening, so Hong Fuyuan reminds that regular physical examination is an important means to prevent chronic kidney disease. At the same time, everyone must improve their lifestyle, such as regular work and rest, control diet, and avoid fatigue and emotional stress. Netizens have expressed that they will pay more attention to kidney health and plan to conduct relevant health check-ups.
(Some netizens asked)
Uremia patients: lifelong dialysis or kidney transplantation?
Once patients with chronic kidney disease have developed the stage of uremia, they will not be able to urinate, detoxify, and maintain normal human metabolism normally. As a uremia patient, you need to rely on dialysis every day to stay alive. So, they will be faced with an important choice: is it dialysis for life? Or a kidney transplant?
Yerev said that kidney transplantation is the most effective treatment for end-stage renal disease. He further explained that kidney transplantation has significant advantages over dialysis when kidney function is gradually failing and patients need renal replacement therapy. A kidney transplant allows patients to get rid of their dependence on dialysis and return to their normal lives and work. However, kidney transplantation is not without risks, and the surgery itself, rejection, infections and malignancies caused by immunosuppression, and side effects of anti-rejection drugs are all issues that patients and doctors must face.
So, under what circumstances do patients need a kidney transplant? Not all such patients are suitable for surgery, and patients need to meet a series of conditions, including age less than 65 years old, good cardiopulmonary function, active peptic ulcer has been cured, malignancy is stable and has no progression, hepatitis is inactive and liver function is normal, tuberculosis is inactive, etc. In addition, patients need to be in a good state of mind to avoid problems such as mental disorders or drug addiction.
With the improvement of medical standards, the accumulation of clinical experience of kidney transplant specialists, the improvement of organ preservation technology, and the application of powerful immunosuppressive drugs, the success rate of kidney transplantation and the survival rate of transplanted kidney have been significantly improved. However, the success of the kidney transplant is only the "first step in a long journey", and Yelief stressed that long-term follow-up after surgery, self-management of patients, and close cooperation between doctors and patients are the keys to ensuring the long-term survival of the transplanted kidney.
Although the number of kidney transplants in the mainland is increasing year by year, the shortage of donor kidneys is still serious. There are about 300,000 patients with organ failure in mainland China every year, but only more than 10,000 patients have undergone organ transplant surgery, and a large number of patients are still waiting. Therefore, organ donation has become an important means of saving lives, which allows the donor's life to be "reborn" in another form. To this end, Yerefu called on all sectors of society to actively participate in the cause of organ donation and jointly provide more treatment options for uremia patients.
During the live broadcast, 5 free expert number benefits were also given to the audience, and the winning netizens were as follows: Xiaobei Xiangdong, Lin, Ganggang, Wei Lilan, Xiaoping.
Anchor observation
Anchor Chen Xiang: It's not okay to eat too much salt, it's not okay to eat too much high-purine food, and it's not okay to drink too little water...... If you have chronic kidney disease, is there such an embarrassment, you can't eat this or that. In the face of a large number of questions in the live broadcast, Dr. Hong said that patients with kidney disease should indeed "keep their mouths shut" and be "picky eaters" scientifically.
Dr. Ang told us that long-term excessive salt intake can increase the burden on the kidneys, resulting in increased blood pressure, reduced blood flow to the kidneys, and damage to the kidneys. Drinking too little water can lead to an increase in urine concentration, increase the risk of kidney stones, and increase the workload on the kidneys. Regular intake of high-fat foods may induce high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, arteriosclerosis, and affect kidney function. Excessive food intake will produce too much metabolic waste in a short period of time, which will increase the burden on the kidneys.
A scientific and standardized diet is the basis for effective control of the progression of chronic kidney disease, which can prevent the occurrence of complications and delay the progression of the disease.
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