If you are one of the millions of Americans that have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, you may have something else to worry about according to recent studies. The National Kidney and Urological Diseases Information Clearinghouse says that diabetes is the main cause of kidney failure. If that is not bad enough news, according to another source, those with Type 2 diabetes, only 12 percent of them are properly diagnosed with kidney disease. The study was a large one that involved more than nine thousand patients that have Type 2 diabetes.
The research noticed that just more than 5,000 of those patients had “urine protein excretion” and should have been diagnosed with the rest of the patients that had kidney disease. The researchers found that only 12 percent were diagnosed by the doctor they visit on a normal basis. Kidney disease can be prevented or slowed if it is found early enough by a doctor. The researchers said that as the time when on with the disease the odds were better that they were diagnosed, but more than 47 percent of them were already in stage four of chronic kidney disease.
According to the findings there was no difference in the workload of doctors or clinicians, hospital environments and their experiences with patients so there seemed to be very few outside factors for the lack of patients being diagnosed. Type 2 diabetes is a bad enough health condition and is not one that needs help messing with your overall health, but it does go hand in hand with kidney failure. According to sources, if the signs of kidney failure are easy to see, keeping that patient from dialysis is a possibility in the long run.
The urine tests that are a part of noticing the disease early are not going to be accessible by the patients that are in the KEEP Healthy screening program. Doctors will also be getting more help to hopefully increase the number of those diagnosed with the disease. The doctors would be in a position to help those with Type 2 diabetes make lifestyle changes so they can avoid some of the hardships that come with the disease.
The main reason that kidney disease comes from Type 2 diabetes is the medication that you are asked to take. The medication you take can affect your kidneys and now that doctors will be able to work closer with patients to make those lifestyle changes, the medications they should be avoiding can also be a part of the conversation.