The levels of kidney disease a person suffers from can be difficult to understand. Usually, they’re measured by something called a glomerular rate of filtration. This rate measures how fast the kidneys are filtering the blood and getting rid of excess fluids and wastes that might be damaging to your body. Determining the glomerular filtration rate helps health professionals see just how good the kidneys are at doing their job, and it’s a good way of measuring kidney function.
Usually, the glomerular filtration rate can befound using a specific formula that features the age of a person, as well as the serum creatinine levels, the person’s race, and gender. A GFR lower than 60 might mean you have kidney disease, as the lower the rate, the more significant your condition is. Here, we’ll be looking at everything you need to know about kidney disease stages.
Measuring Kidney Performance
When it comes to understanding everything you need to know about kidney disease stages, it’s worth noting that the GFR measurement isn’t always ideal for measuring kidney performance in certain people, like people of a certain age, obese people, or amputees. In certain cases, GFR can also be found through the process of a 24 hour process of collecting urine.
Chronic kidney disease can be identified as damage to the kidney, or a GFR level that is under 60 for a period longer than six months.
The Stages of Kidney Disease
Understanding everything you need to know about kidney disease stages means recognizing that different stages mean different things. For instance, the first stage of chronic kidney disease comes with a GFR of 90 or above, in which your doctor will attempt to determine the reason of your kidney problems and then start treatment. The physician will also look into other health problems like high blood pressure and diabetes.
The second stage of kidney disease comes with kidney problems with slightly low low GFR of between 60-89. In this stage, your doctor will attempt to make an estimate that indicates how quickly your current disease in progressing, and he will also take steps to manage the various health problems that you could be facing, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. This will also include a process of regular monitoring too.
In stage three of kidney damage, which comes with GFR of around 30-59, your doctor will focus on checking your medical history for complications. He or she might look for signs of bone disease and anemia, and begin additional treatment where required.
In the fourth stage of kidney damage with seriously low GFR of between 15-29, the doctor will need to take extreme precautions to make sure that you are receiving the treatment that will help to best prevent kidney failure. He or she may also determine what kind of treatment you’d like to proceed with if kidney failure does happen.
Finally, in the fifth stage of kidney disease, which is often called kidney failure, the GFR rate is below 15. In this case, you will need to either have a kidney transplant, begin palliative care, or start undergo the process of dialysis.
