Chronic kidney disease (CKD), also known as chronic renal disease (CRD), is a progressive loss in renal function over a period of months or years.
Symptoms
You may start to have symptoms only a few months after your kidneys begin to fail. But most people don't have symptoms early on. In fact, many don't have symptoms for as long as 30 years or more. This is called the "silent" phase of the disease.
How well your kidneys work is called kidney function. As your kidney function gets worse, you may:
Causes
Chronic kidney disease is caused by damage to the kidneys. The most common causes of this damage are:
Other things that can lead to chronic kidney disease include: