CKD is usually diagnosed by blood and urine tests. Your child may have these tests as part of a routine check-up at your GPs or because they are at risk of developing CKD because they have a family history of kidney disease.
Your child’s height and weight will be measured to see if they are growing well. Their blood pressure will also be measured to check for hypertension (high blood pressure).
Some children need a kidney biopsy to find out more information. A tiny piece of one kidney is removed from their body with a needle. This is examined under special microscopes in a laboratory. Special medicines are used so your child is not uncomfortable during the procedure. The results can take a few weeks.
CKD is divided into five stages based on your child’s glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Glomeruli are the network of tiny blood vessels inside the kidneys that separate out waste products and excess salt and water from the blood. The GFR shows how well your child’s kidneys filter their blood, by indicating how much blood passes through the glomeruli every minute.
Getting an accurate measurement of your child’s GFR is difficult, so their blood test results normally give an estimated filtration rate, or eGFR. This is the amount of fluid (liquid) in millilitres (mL) that the kidneys filter each minute (min).
This is then adjusted for your child against a standard body size (body surface area of 1.73m2).
The GFR is like a percentage of kidney function. The GFR for healthy kidneys is 90 mL/min/1.73m2 or higher.
Many children with CKD do not progress through all stages and their CKD remains mild.
Children with CKD will need long term monitoring to check for changes to their kidney function, and to see if any treatment is required.
It some cases kidney function can drop suddenly and then improve. This is known as acute kidney injury (AKI) and normally happens as a complication of another condition. AKI is usually temporary and often gets better without causing any long-term problems, in contrast to CKD which does not get better, but can be slowed or managed with treatment.
Who gets CKD?
CKD can affect people of all ages, including babies and children. It can run in families and is more common in people from Asian and Black backgrounds.
What causes CKD?
CKD is very rare in children.
Only some kidney conditions cause CKD, and only some children with CKD progress to later stages.
Your child’s kidney team will try to find out what has caused their CKD to help decide the best treatment plan.