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Summary
If you have diabetes, your blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels are too high. Over time, this can damage your kidneys. Your kidneys 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. People with diabetes should get regular screenings for kidney disease. Tests include a urine test to detect protein in your urine and a blood test to show 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.
NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Diagnosis and Tests
- Creatinine Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
- Kidney Tests: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
Prevention and Risk Factors
- Diabetic Kidney Disease (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
Treatments and Therapies
- Chronic Kidney Disease (Nephropathy) (American Diabetes Association)
- Kidney-Pancreas Transplant (National Kidney Foundation)
Living With
- Emergency Meal Planning for Diabetic Patients on Dialysis (National Kidney Foundation)
Specifics
- Albuminuria (Proteinuria) (National Kidney Foundation)
- Glomerular Diseases (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
- Nephrotic Syndrome in Adults (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Diabetic Nephropathies (National Institutes of Health)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Rate and risk factors of kidney function decline among South Asians...
- Article: Sex-difference of multifactorial intervention on cardiovascular and mortality risk in DKD:...
- Article: Efficacy and safety of polyethylene glycol loxenatide in treating mild-to-moderate diabetic...
- Diabetic Kidney Problems -- see more articles
Reference Desk
- Your Kidneys and How They Work (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
Find an Expert
- American Diabetes Association
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- National Kidney Foundation
- NIDDK Information Clearinghouses and Health Information Center (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
Patient Handouts
- Diabetes and kidney disease (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Microalbuminuria test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
- Urine protein dipstick test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish