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Alan Davis <usuk@nyc.rr.com> wrote in message news:<3C5FCCC3.6CE78F68@nyc.rr.com>...
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020204/hl/kidney_failure_1.html
> 
> Monday February 4 6:15 PM ET
> 
>                 Many Have Undiagnosed Kidney Disease
> 
>                 By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
> 
>                 WASHINGTON (AP) - One in nine adult Americans has
> chronic kidney disease, but many don't
>                 know it and aren't taking steps to protect their damaged
> kidneys from getting worse.
> 
>                 New research by the National Kidney Foundation also says
> another 20 million Americans are at
>                 increased risk of getting kidney disease because they
> have diabetes, high blood pressure or other risk
>                 factors.
> 
>                 Those people need to get easy - and cheap - urine and
> blood tests from their doctors to see if they
>                 have kidney disease, according to the foundation's new
> guidelines, published in this month's American
>                 Journal of Kidney Diseases.
> 
>                 It's ``a silent disease'' until the kidneys are severely
> damaged, Dr. Andrew Levey, chief of nephrology
>                 at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, said
> Monday.
> 
>                 If detected early and treated, kidney damage can be
> slowed, said Levey, who chaired a panel of
>                 specialists that wrote the new guidelines.
> 
>                 ``Our goal is to slow the rate of kidney disease
> worsening so people can live a long time'' without
>                 needing dialysis or a kidney transplant, he said.
> 
>                 The kidneys filter waste out of the bloodstream. With
> chronic kidney disease, the organs slowly lose
>                 that filtering ability, eventually becoming so damaged
> that patients die without dialysis or a kidney
>                 transplant.
> 
>                 Specialists have warned that end-stage kidney failure is
> increasing by 2 percent a year in the United
>                 States. Already, 300,000 Americans are on dialysis and
> 80,000 more are living with transplanted
>                 kidneys.
> 
>                 Until now, no one had a precise count of just how many
> people are living with earlier stages of chronic
>                 kidney disease, or how many were at increased risk of
> getting it. New government statistics allowed
>                 the National Kidney Foundation to do those counts.
> 
>                 Elderly people and people with diabetes, high blood
> pressure or a family history of kidney disease
>                 need tests for signs of impaired kidney function. The
> new guidelines recommend two tests:
> 
>                 -People with kidney disease have increased protein in
> their urine. A simple urine test can be done
>                 either by a lab or in a doctor's office, using a special
> dipstick test that checks specifically for the protein
>                 albumin.
> 
>                 -The second test estimates the patient's GFR -
> glomerular filtration rate, a medical term for how well
>                 the kidneys are filtering. A blood test that measures
> levels of the metabolite creatinine allows doctors to
>                 estimate GFR.
> 
>                 There are four therapies to slow kidney damage:
> 
>                 -Drugs called angiotensin II receptor blockers can slow
> kidney failure by about two years in people
>                 with advanced disease, and proponents expect they'll
> work even better if taken by people in earlier
>                 stages of chronic renal disease. They work by relaxing
> delicate blood vessels in the kidneys, and are
>                 similar to a type of blood pressure medicine called ACE
> inhibitors.
> 
>                 -Strict blood pressure control is crucial.
> 
>                 -In diabetics, strict blood sugar control protects the
> kidneys.
> 
>                 -Low-protein diets often are recommended, although
> studies of their helpfulness are mixed, Levey
>                 said.
> 
>                 To track how well therapy is working, patients need the
> blood and urine tests repeated at least yearly,
>                 and more often once the GFR drops below 60 - a line
> separating mild disease from more serious organ
>                 damage, Levey said.
> 
>                 The foundation is still studying how often screening
> should be offered to people who haven't tested
>                 positive for kidney disease yet. The American Diabetes
> Association recommends yearly urine tests for
>                 most diabetics. Doctors should not use regular dipstick
> tests - the kind often used for pregnant women
>                 - but the albumin-specific kind, or send the urine to a
> lab to be sure they detect small protein levels,
>                 said ADA's Dr. Nathaniel Clark.
> 
>                 -
> 
>                 On the Net:
> 
>                 National Kidney Foundation: http://www.kidney.org

Hi Alan,
I was interested to read the article you posted up. I live in England
and my renal failure was diagnosed in June 2000 when my kidney
function was at about 15%, though I subsequently learnt that blood
tests carried out in December 1998 had shown that it was at 25% but
nobody picked up on it.
It's rather alarming to think that there are lots of other people
walking around not knowing they have renal failure and not getting
treatment. I carried on for years feeling very tired but I just
thought I needed a good night's sleep!
I read in the Daily Mail (25 July 2000)that there are an estimated
100,000 Britons that suffer from some severe form of kidney disease,
but only 32,000 receiving treatment. I also read in the Times last
week that the NHS cant cope with the numbers of people needing
treatment and that the numbers are expected to rise dramatically over
the next few years. Apparently treatment for kidney disease takes up
10% of NHS resources.
I can see, from my own experience, how people can just soldier on and
cope with the symptoms without seeking medical help, but I dont know
where the 100,000 estimate is arrived at.
All the best


David Johnson