What is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)?

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a long-term health condition where the kidneys are damaged and no longer functioning as they should. This refers to the ability of the kidneys to remove excess fluid and toxins from your body to keep you healthy.

When kidney disease deteriorates, high levels of waste products are built up in your blood, causing health complications such as heart disease, weaker bones, anemia, breathlessness, muscle cramps, etc.

These health problems usually happen gradually over a long period of time, so for most people, chronic kidney disease is discovered only at its late stages. However, regular health screening can help in early detection and treatment to keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse or leading to complete kidney failure.

Once the kidneys fail, the patient would require dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive. Dialysis helps in removing excess fluid, salt, and toxins from our body. It is usually done in a dialysis center, hospital or at home.

This report presents the trends on incidence, prevalence and survival of Singapore residents with Chronic Kidney Disease (stage 5) and underwent dialysis or kidney transplant in 2009 to 2018.

Causes of chronic kidney disease

2 of the most common causes of chronic kidney failure are diabetes and high blood pressure.

Diabetes happens when your blood sugar is too high, thus causing damage to the major organs in your body, such as our heart, blood vessels, and of course, our kidneys.

High blood pressure (hypertension) occurs when the pressure of our blood against the walls of our blood vessels increases. When poorly controlled, this is when high blood pressure can lead to strokes, heart attacks, and chronic kidney disease.

Other risk factors for chronic kidney disease include obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, and family history of kidney disease.

Battling the chronic kidney disease (CKD) can be a daunting and exhausting journey. And the treatments for CKD varies for everyone based on their medical history, current medical conditions, lifestyle and diet. That is why a personalised approach is crucial. If you need any advice on chronic kidney disease (CKD) from a kidney doctor in Singapore, feel free to reach out to Dr Francisco here.