The Basics of Diabetic Nephropathy

Today I hope to give you a better understanding of what diabetic nephropathy is and why it is important and all of this in language you can understand!

Let’s start with some basic information about diabetes. Essentially, someone with diabetes does not have the ability to produce any or enough insulin, which causes elevated glucose (sugar) levels in the blood. There are two types of diabetes, 1 and 2, but type 2 is far more common. According to the American Diabetes Association, the most recent data tells us that 9.3 percent, or 29.1 million adult Americans, has diabetes and somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of these individuals will get diabetic nephropathy at some point in their life.

Diabetic nephropathy is a complication of diabetes that causes kidney damage or kidney disease. Nephropathy means the same thing as kidney disease.

You might be wondering – what do diabetes and glucose have to do with the kidney? The kidney contains million of small blood vessels that filter waste from the blood. The waste is excreted from the body as urine. Diabetes can damage the structures that filter waste from the blood. These structures thicken and scar which decreases their ability to filter waste and remove fluid from the body. A protein called albumin is leaked in the urine. The exact cause of diabetic nephropathy is unknown, but high blood sugar levels and high blood pressure are said to be important contributors.

There are a few factors that increase the risk of getting diabetic nephropathy:

1.    Being African-American, Hispanic or American Indian

2.    Developing type 1 diabetes before the age of 20

3.   Smoking

Stay tuned for next week when I talk in more detail about the causes and implications of diabetic nephropathy. 

Sources:
1. “Statistics about Diabetes.” American Diabetes Association, June 2014. http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/statistics/
2. Kivi, Rose. "Diabetic Nephropathy." Healthline, August 2014. http://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/nephropathy#Overview1