Diabetic Kidney Problems (Print Version)

Also called: Also called: Diabetic nephropathy

If you have diabetes, your blood sugar levels are too high. Over time, this can damage your kidneys. Your kidneys are filters that clean your blood. If they are damaged, waste and fluids build up in your blood instead of leaving your body.

Kidney damage from diabetes is called diabetic nephropathy. It begins long before you have symptoms. An early sign of it is small amounts of protein in your urine. A urine test can detect it. A blood test can also help determine how well your kidneys are working.

If the damage continues, your kidneys could fail. In fact, diabetes is the most common cause of kidney failure in the United States. People with kidney failure need either dialysis or a kidney transplant.

You can slow down kidney damage or keep it from getting worse. Controlling your blood sugar and blood pressure, taking your medicines and not eating too much protein can help.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Start Here

Kidney Disease of Diabetes(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/kdd/
Also available in Spanish http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/spanish/pubs/kdd/index.htm

Overviews

Diabetes and Kidney Disease(National Kidney Foundation) - http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=37
JAMA Patient Page: Diabetes and the Kidney(American Medical Association) - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/289/24/3372.pdf
Also available in Spanish http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/data/289/24/3372/DC1/1
Protect Your Kidneys(National Kidney Disease Education Program) - http://www.nkdep.nih.gov/kidneymonth/
Ten Facts about Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease(National Kidney Foundation) - http://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/fs_new/10factsabtdbt&ckd.cfm

Latest News

Two-Drug Combo May Lower Diabetics' Kidney Risk(02/19/2009, HealthDay) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_80760.html

Diagnosis/Symptoms

Microalbumin and Microalbumin/Creatinine Ratio(American Association for Clinical Chemistry) - http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/microalbumin/test.html

Treatment

Getting a Kidney-Pancreas Transplant(National Kidney Foundation) - http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=159
Kidney Transplantation(American Diabetes Association) - http://www.diabetes.org/type-1-diabetes/kidney-transplants.jsp
Also available in Spanish http://www.diabetes.org/espanol/diabetes-tipo-2/trasplantes-rinon.jsp

Prevention/Screening

Prevent Diabetes Problems: Keep Your Kidneys Healthy(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/complications_kidneys/
Also available in Spanish http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/spanish/pubs/complications_kidneys/index.htm

Disease Management

Patient Awareness of Treatment in Diabetic Kidney Disease(American Association of Kidney Patients) - http://www.aakp.org/aakp-library/patient-awareness-of-treatment/

Specific Conditions

Glomerular Diseases(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/glomerular/
Microalbuminuria in Diabetic Kidney Disease(National Kidney Foundation) - http://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/fs_new/microalbindbkd.cfm
Nephrotic Syndrome in Adults(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/nephrotic/

Related Issues

Diabetes and Kidney Disease: A Balancing Act(American Association of Kidney Patients) - http://www.aakp.org/aakp-library/Diabetes-and-Kidney-Disease/
Diabetes, Kidney and Cardiovascular Disease(American Heart Association) - http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3044857
Ten Facts about Diabetes and Kidney Disease in Hispanic Americans(National Kidney Foundation) - http://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/fs_new/10factsdiabckdhispanic.cfm

Anatomy/Physiology

Kidneys and How They Work(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/
Also available in Spanish http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/spanish/pubs/yourkids/

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Diabetic Nephropathies(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/condition=%22Diabetic+Nephropathies%22

Research

Diabetes Control and Complications Trial and Follow-up Study(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/control/
Kidney Research(American Diabetes Association) - Current medical research reports - http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-research/summaries/kidney.jsp

Journal Articles

References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Article: Improving microvascular outcomes in patients with diabetes through management of... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19332966&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Are renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockers distinguishable based on cardiovascular and renal... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19332965&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: A pilot study to assess utility of changes in elements... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19303969&tool=MedlinePlus
Diabetic Kidney Problems -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=(diabetic+nephropathies[majr]+OR+(diabetes+mellitus[majr]+AND+kidney/pp[majr]))+AND+humans[mh]+AND+english[la]+AND+(systematic[sb]+OR+review[pt]+OR+guideline[pt]+OR+clinical+trial[pt]+OR+jsubsetk[text]+OR+jsubsetaim[text]+OR+jsubsetn[text]+OR+patient+education+handout[pt])+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus

Medical Encyclopedia

diabetic nephropathy - http://vsearch.nlm.nih.gov/vivisimo/cgi-bin/query-meta?v:project=medlineplus&binning-state=group%3d%3dMedical%20Encyclopedia&query=diabetic+nephropathy

Dictionaries/Glossaries

Kidney Diseases Dictionary(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/kdictionary/
Take Charge of Your Diabetes: Glossary(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/tcyd/appendix.htm

Directories

Directory of Kidney and Urologic Diseases Organizations(National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse) - http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/resources/organizations.htm

Organizations

American Diabetes Association - http://www.diabetes.org/
National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases - http://www.niddk.nih.gov/
National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse(National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) - http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/

You may also be interested in these MedlinePlus related pages:

Diabetes - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diabetes.html
Diabetes Complications - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diabetescomplications.html
Kidney Failure - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kidneyfailure.html
Kidney Transplantation - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kidneytransplantation.html
Endocrine System - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/endocrinesystem.html
Kidneys and Urinary System - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/kidneysandurinarysystem.html

The primary NIH organization for research on Diabetic Kidney Problems is the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases - http://www.niddk.nih.gov/