Kidney Conditions Forum - Determining the cause of chronic kidney disease

I am an otherwise healthy 44 year-old male. I just saw a nephrologist who is sending me for testing with a preliminary diagnosis of CKD stage 3. I brought to him my blood test results over a 15 year period. My creatine level varied from 1.4 to 1.8 over the years. My queation is does this always progress to stage 4, and 5, or can treatment, and diet stop it in it's tracks?

Replies(2)

Dr. Goce Aleksovski , MD

replied on May 15th, 2009

Kidney Conditions Answer A6587

It seems likely that it would be most important to determine what the reason was for the chronic kidney disease in the first place. Most common causes include: diabetic nephropathy, hypertension, and glomerulonephritis. Certain of these causes are long lasting and can damage the kidney continuously as in diabetic nephropathy and hypertension. Others such as glomerulonephritis damage the kidney for one brief period and the lesions of the kidney are life lasting.

The prognosis of the chronic kidney disease is best predicted by the degree of proteinuria (proteins in the urine). Patients with nephritic-range proteinuria (>3g/24h or urine protein/creatinine>3) usually have a poorer prognosis and progress to renal failure more rapidly. Hypertension is associated with more rapid progression as well.

Please note that if the causes for the primary renal damage were only temporary, then it might take a longer period for the disease to progress. Regular checkups with a nephrologist are highly recommended.

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